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THE 


Organization  of  Charities 


BEING    A    REPORT    OF 


THE    SIXTH  SECTION  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL   CONGRESS 

OF  CHARITIES,   CORRECTIONS,  AND  PHILANTHROPY, 

CHICAGO,  JUNE,   1893. 


EDITED   WITH    AN    INTRODUCTION    V.\ 

DANIEL    C.    GILMAN,    L  L .  U  . 
President  of  the  Charity   Organization  Society  of  Baltimore,  Md. 


HALilMORE 
THK   JOHNS    HOPKINS     PRESS. 

LONDON 
THE    SCIE^frIFIC    PRESS,    LIMIIEI) 

428   Strand,  W.  C. 
1894 


*  #  • 

•••  I.. 


THE  WORLJl'S  CONGRESS  ADXILIARY  OF  THE  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION. 


The  International  Congress  of  Charities,  Correction  and 

Philanthropy. 

president  : 

RUTHERFORD   B.    HAYES. 

FIRST  vice-president  :  SECOND  VICE-PRESIDENT  : 

i     .  '  FREDERICK    H.    WINES.  ROBERT    TREAT   PAINK. 

*    f 

GENERAL    SECRETARY  : 

ALEXANDER   JOHNSON. 

COMMITTEE   OF    ORGANIZATION  : 

FREDERICK    H.    WINES,  JOHN   G.    SHORTALL,   Mrs.   J.    M.    FLOWER. 
NATHANIEL   S.  ROSENAU,  SECRETARY. 


SECTION    VI. 

The  Organization  and  Affiliation  of  Charities  in  Counties, 
States,  Cities,  Towns  and  Villages,  and  Pre- 
ventive Work  Among  the  Poor. 

COMMITTEE    OF    ARRANGEMENTS  : 
Members  Invited. 
Levi  L.  Barbour,  Detroit,  Mich. 
Charles  J.  Bonaparte,  Baltimore. 
John  G.  Brooks,  Brockton,  Mass. 
Miss  Anna  L.  Dawes,  Washington. 
Robert  VV.  De  Forest,  New  York. 
Daniel  C.  Oilman,  Baltimore. 
John  M.  Glenn,  Baltimore. 
Charles  C.  Harrison,  Philadelphia. 
J.  W.  Jenks,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 
J.  Lloyd  Jones,  Chicago. 
Mrs.  C.  R.  Lowell,  New  York. 
Richmond  Mayo-Smith,  New  York. 
Mrs.  Mary  E.  Mumford,  Philadelphia. 
Robert  Treat  Paine,  Boston. 
Francis  G.  Peabody,  Cambridge. 
Mrs.  W.  B.  Rice,  New  York. 
Miss  Louisa  Lee  Schuyler,  New  York. 
Amos  G.  Warner,  Washington. 
Alfred  T.  White,  Brooklyn. 
Ansley  Wilcox,  Buffalo. 


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TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

iDiTORiAL  Note v 

V  Panorama  of  Charitable   tV^ork  in   Many   Lands,  by  D.  C.  Oilman viii 

rhe  Problem,  of  Charity,  by  Rev.  Francis  G.  Peabody xx 

Proceedings  :. 

First  Session:     The  Demarcation  of  the   Field  of  Voluntary  Charitable 

Work 3 

Second  Session:      Friendly  Visiting 15 

Third  Session:     The  Relation  of   Public  to  Private  Charity 31 

Fourth  Session:     Labor  Colonies,  Relief  in  Work ,    33 

^APERS  ON  Charity  Organization  in  the  United  States: 

History  of  Charity   Organization   in  the    United    States,    by   Charles  U. 

Kellogg 43 

The  State  Charities  Aid  Association  of  the  State  of  New  York,  by  Miss 

Louisa  Lee  Schuyler 57 

The   State   Charities  Aid  Association  of  New  Jersey,  by  Mrs.  Emily  E. 

Williamson 72 

Are  Labor  Colonies  Needed  in  the  United  States?  by  Mrs.  Charles  R. 

Lowell 77 

Labor  Tests  and   Relief  in    Work  in  the   United  States,  by  Alfred   T. 

White  87 

Registration  of  Charitable  Relief,  by  Miss  Francis  R.  Morse 99 

Friendly  Visiting,  by  Mrs.  Roger  Wolcott 108 

The  Co-operation  of  Public  with  Private  Charitable  Agencies,  by  Alex- 
ander Johnson 1 14 

Public  Subsidies  to  Private  Charities,  by  Amos  G.  Warner 120 

Papers    from    Continental    Europe  on  Public    and    Private  Relief 
OF  the  Poor  : 

Charity  in  France  and  Belgium,  by  Herbert  Valleroux 135 

Charitable  Organizations  and  Charitable  Work  in  Italy,  by  Egisto  Rossi.    168 
The  International  Treatment  of  Charity  Questions,  by  Baron  Von  Reitz- 

enstein  185 

The  Elberfeld    System  of   Poor  Relief,  by  Dr.  Theodore  Miinsterberg... .    187 
The  Elberfeld  System  of  Poor  Relief  and  its   Practical  Application,  by 

Dr.  Thoma 200 

The  p:iberfeld  System  of  Poor  Relief,  by  L.  F.  Seyffardt 207 

Co-operation  between    Public    and    Private    Poor    Relief,    by    Dr.    Victor 

Huhmert 210 

The  People's  Club,  "  Volkswohl  ",  of  Dresden;  its  Evening  Entertain- 
ments and    Homes  for  the  People,  by  Dr,  Victor  Buhmert 22S 

The  Organization  of  Charity  in  Russia,  by  Dr.  H.  Georgievsky 244 


4iJ()ri6(» 


IV  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

Papers  on  Charity  Organization  in  Great  Britain  :  page> 

Introductory  Note,  by  C.  S.  Loch 250- 

The  West  of  London  :    S.  Marylebone,  by  Rev.  B.  H.  Alford 253 

The  East  of  London,  by  Kev.  Dr.  E.  H.  Bradby 258 

Shoreditch,  hy  C  N.  Nicholson 268 

St.  Olave's,  by  C.  P.  Earner 278 

Charity  Organization  in  Islington,  by  Miss  L.  Sharpe 283 

Co-operation  of   Charitable   Agencies  with   the    Poor    Law.  with   Special 

Reference  to  St.  George  in  the  East,  by  T.  Mackay 29c 

Manchester.      Poor  Law  Relief  and  Charity  Organization  in  an  Industrial 

Town,  by  Alexander  McUougall 304 

The  Charities  of  Bristol,  by  .IVIiss  Elizabeth  Sturge 312 

Rochdale.     Industrial  and  General   Characteristics,  Poor  Law  Adminis- 
tration, and  Charities,  by  R.  A.  Leach 319 

Appendix  :   Report  of  the    Work   Done  by  the  Rochdale  Charity 

Organization  Society  1880-1891,  by  Alderman  Heape 338 

Helping  the  Poor  in  Aberdeen,  by  George  Milne 344 

rhe   Problem  of   Poverty  in  an   English   Rural    Union   (Bradtield),  by  II . 

G.  Willink 350 

Charity  Organization   in   Relation  to   Voluntary   Effort,  by   Rev.  Brooke 

Lambert 365 

Friendly  Visiting,  by  Miss  F.  C.  Prideaux , 369 

English  Poor  Law,  by  Baldwyn  Fleming 377 

School   Savings  Banks,  by  Charles  Henry  Wyatt 384 

Index 391 


.^  EDITORIAL    NOTE. 

The  Conference  on  Charity  Organization,  whose  proceedings  are 
Teported  in  the  following  pages,  was  one  of  the  series  of  international 
assemblies  held  in  Chicago  during  the  Columbian  Exhibition  of  1893. 
It  was  projected  as  the  sixth  section  of  the  International  Congress  of 
Charities,  Correction  and  Philanthropy,  and  accordingly  the  initiative 
was  taken  by  the  officers  of  that  body,  Hon.  R.  B.  Hayes,  the  late  ex- 
President  of  the  United  States,  Rev.  F.  H.  Wines,  of  Illinois,  upon 
whom  devolved  the  presidency  of  the  Congress,  and  Mr.  N.  S.  Rose- 
nau,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  exhibit  of  Charities  and  Corrections 
during  the  progress  of  the  world's  fair.  On  their  visit  to  Baltimore,  in 
the  early  winter  of  1892-3,  while  the  National  Prison  Association  was 
in  session,  this  committee  enlisted  the  cooperation  of  some  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Charity  Organization  Society  of  Baltimore,  and  with  them 
agreed  to  entrust  the  plans  of  the  sixth  section  to  a  body  of  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  selected  from  many  different  cities.  An  active  correspon- 
•dence  then  began,  and  presently  three  committee  meetings  were  held 
in  New  York,  to  give  unity  and  directness  to  the  various  suggestions 
which  had  been  made  by  those  who  were  consulted. 

Several  persons  who  were  invited  to  become  members  of  the  com- 
mittee of  arrangements  were  prevented,  by  distance  or  by  other  engage- 
ments, from  active  cooperation, — among  them,  Mr.  Ansley  Wilcox,  of 
Buffalo,  Rev.  J.  Lloyd  Jones,  of  Chicago,  Professor  Jenks,  of  Cornell 
University,  Miss  Dawes,  of  Washington,  and  Rev.  J.  G.  Brooks,  of 
Brockton,  Mass. 

The  persons  below  named  attended  one  or  more  of  the  meetings, 
held  in  New  York,  and  so  constituted  the  acting 

COMMITTEE    OF    ARRANGEMENTS. 

Levi  L.  Barbour,  Detroit,  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Mumforu,  Philadelphia, 

Charles  J.  Bonaparte,  Baltimore,  Robert  Treat  Paine,  Boston, 

KoBERT  W.  Deforest,  New  York,  Francis  G.  Peabody,  Cambridge, 

Daniel  C.  Oilman,   Baltimore,  Mrs.  W.  B.  Rice,  New  York, 

John  M.  Glenn,  Baltimore,  Miss  Louisa  Lee  Schuyler,  New  York, 

Charles  C.  Harrison,  Philadelphia,  Richmond  Mayo-Smith,  New  York, 

Mks^CUt- Lowell,  New  York,  Alkred  T.  White,  Brooklyn, 

Amos  G.  Warner,  Washington. 


VI  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

The  officers,- chosen  by  the  committee,  were  these. 

President:  Daniel  C.  Gilman,  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Baltimore. 

Secretary:  Richmond  Mayo-Smith,  Columbia  College,  New  York. 

Treasurer:  Charles  C.  Harrison,  Philadelphia. 

Executive  Committee:  Messrs.  A.  T.  White,  of  Brooklyn,  R.  VV.  De 
Forest,  of  New  York,  and  F.  G.  Peabody,  of  Cambridge,  with  the  Presi- 
dent and  Secretary. 

Finance  Committee:  Messrs.  R.  T.  Paine,  C.  C.  Harrison,  and  C.  J- 
Bonaparte,  and  Mrs.  C.  R.  Lowell. 

The  executive  committee  perfected  the  arrangements  for  the  meeting 
in  Chicago,  and  (with  the  exception  of  one  member)  were  present  dur- 
ing the  deliberations.  The  finance  committee  collected  an  amount 
sufficient  for  the  payment  of  the  incidental  expenses,  and  for  the  assur- 
ance of  the  publication  of  this  volume.  This  pecuniary  support  came 
chiefly  from  active  upholders  of  the  principles  of  charity  organization 
in  Boston,  Brooklyn,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore. 

The  special  arrangements  for  the  meeting,  including  a  very  large 
part  of  the  foreign  and  domestic  correspondence,  devolved  upon  Pro- 
fessor Mayo-Smith,  of  Columbia  College,  New  York. 

The  Congress  assembled  in  Chicago,  June  12,  1893.  The  opening^ 
address  was  delivered  by  the  Reverend  Professor  Peabody,  of  Harvard 
University,  which,  at  the  request  of  many  persons  who  heard  it  and  of 
many  who  heard  of  it,  is  reprinted  in  this  volume.  At  the  same  meet- 
ing, a  discourse  commemorative  of  ex-President  Hayes,  who  died  in 
the  preceding  January,  was  delivered  by  Reverend  F.  H.  Wines,  since 
published  in  the  report  of  the  National  Prison  Congress.  Another 
address  of  general  interest  was  given  by  the  Hon.  Robert  Treat  Paine,, 
of  Boston,  which  has  since  been  published  in  a  separate  volume. 

The  section  on  Charity  Organization  held  four  sessions,  over  which 
Mr.  Robert  W.  De  Forest,  President  of  the  Charity  Organization 
Society  of  New  York,  Mr.  Jeffrey  R.  Brackett,  and  Mr.  John  M. 
Glenn,  of  Baltimore,  presided.  The  debates  which  followed  the  read- 
ing of  the  papers  are  reported,  not  so  perfectly  as  might  be  desired, 
in  the  following  pages.  Those  who  heard  the  communications  and 
the  comments  upon  them,  were  unanimous  and  hearty  in  their  expres- 
sions of  satisfaction  and  in  their  desire  to  impart,  to  those  who  could 
not  be  present,  the  impressions  of  this  encouraging  and  stimulating 
conference. 


^  EDITORIAL    NOTE.  VU 

• 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  a  valuable  paper  by  Mr.  Levi  L.  Barbour  on 
"'T'he  Demarcation  of  the  Field  of  Voluntary  Charitable  Work"  is 
omitted.  It  was  not  forwarded  by  the  reporter  and  has  not  since  been 
fcrond. 

•WtTle  delay  which  has  occurred  in  the  publication  of  this  volume  is  due 
to  the  necessity  of  sending  to  England  the  proofs  of  the  very  valuable 
papers  contributed  through  the  kind  agency  of  Mr.  C.  S.  Loch,  Secre- 
■tary  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society  of  London.  As  the  authors 
were  widely  separated,  much  time  was  consumed  in  receiving  the  return 
proof  sheets.  Special  acknowledgments  are  due  not  only  to  Mr.  Loch, 
but  also  to  the  Rev.  John  G.  Brooks,  who  was  actively  interested  in 
securing  communications  from  continental  writers. 

The  care  of  seeing  this  volume  through  the  press  was  assumed  by 
Mr.  John  M.  Glenn,  one  of  the  managers  of  the  Charity  Organization 
Society  of  Baltimore.  The  Index  has  been  prepared  by  David  I. 
Green,  Ph.  D.,  recently  called  to  the  oversight  of  the  Charity  Organi- 
zation Society  in  Hartford,  Conn. 

Baltimore,  /a«?/rt!/-v,  1894. 


A  PANORAMA  OF  CHARITABLE  WORK  IN  MANY  LANDS: 

BEING     A     REVIEW    OF    THE     PAPERS    SUBMITTED     TO     THE     INTERNATIONAL 
CONGRESS    IN    CHICAGO,    JUNE,     1893. 

BY    DANIEL    C.    OILMAN. 

In  the  volume  to  which  this  essay  is  an  introduction  the  reader  will 
find  an  expression  of  opinions  upon  the  organization  and  adminis- 
tration of  charities  from  many  thoughtful  students  and  observers  in 
England,  France,  Germany,  Italy,  Russia,  and  in  many  states  of 
the  American  union.  Most  if  not  all  the  writers  are  persons  who 
have  devoted  years  to  the  study  of  human  sufferings  and  delinquencies, 
and  to  the  agencies  b^  which  the  strong  endeavor  to  bear  in  part  the 
burdens  of  the  weak.  Many  of  the  contributors,  if  not  all,  are  offi- 
cially concerned  in  the  administration  of  public  or  private  charities. 
Not  a  few  of  them  are  known  far  beyond  the  borders  of  their  own 
country  as  authorities  or  experts  in  the  treatment  of  pauperism  and  the 
prevention  of  misery,  vice  and  crime.  Their  collective  essays  afford  a 
sort  of  panorama  of  the  charitable  work  of  Christendom,  at  the  close 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  panorama,  however,  is  not  complete. 
Hospitals,  dispensaries,  and  institutions  for  the  relief  of  the  aged,  the 
protection  of  the  young,  and  the  restoration  of  the  feeble  do  not  come 
within  the  present  survey.  Nor  are  educational,  reformatory,  or  peni- 
tentiary establishments  discussed  in  this  volume.  But  the  methods  now 
employed  in  Europe  and  America  for  the  prevention  of  pauperism,  the 
relief  of  poverty,  and  the  orderly  administration  of  beneficence,  are 
here  succinctly  set  forth  with  all  the  variety  of  expression  that  is  sug- 
gested by  spontaneous  efforts,  in  different  conditions,  under  various  tra- 
ditions and  laws,  and  described  by  men  and  women  who  are  unacquainted 
with  the  views  of  their  collaborators.  In  all  this  diversity  a  remarka- 
ble unity  of  principles  will  be  soon  discovered.  Four  principles  are 
generally  recognized  as  wise  and  correct,  and  in  some  places  are  indeed 
so  familiar  that  they  appear  elementary. 

First,  the  nature  and  influence  of  charitable  works  and  the  compara- 
tive  values  of  different   modes  of  procedure,    are  as  worthy  of  exact 


A  PANORAMA  OF  CHARITABLE  WORK  IN  MANY  LANDS.        IX 

Study,  as  the  facts  and  laws  of  political  economy.  If  humanity  is  still 
far* 'from  having  worked  out  "a  science  of  charity,"  it  has  taken  the 
first  steps  toward  the  establishment  of  a  systematic  and  trustworthy 
system;  it  has  undertaken  to  collect  the  facts  and  to  make  some  gene- 
raitfations  upon  the  information  thus  brought  together.  Organized 
charity  proceeds  upon  the  assumption  of  the  unity  of  human  nature,  so 
that  although  laws,  religions,  traditions  and  usages  differ  in  different 
->ands,  like  causes  every  where  tend  to  produce  the  like  effects.  It 
examines  the  methods  which  have  been  employed  for  the  relief  of  necessi- 
ties in  the  light  of  these  consequent  results.  It  records  and  compares 
the  experience  acquired  in  towhs  and  villages  and  country  places.  It 
notes  the  rise  and  fall  of  individual  characters,  and  the  uplifting  or  the 
degradation  of  families  and  neighborhoods.  It  observes  particularly 
the  effects  of  good  a,nd  bad  financial  laws  and  ordinances;  good  and 
bad  sanitary  regulations;  good  and  bad  religious  and  moral  influences. 
As  it  makes  these  studies,  charity  organization  is  not  at  all  alarmed  if 
it  is  called  in  a  sneering  tone  "scientific,"  for  history  is  full  of  examples 
of  the  taunts  that  have  been  thrown  upon  the  beginnings  of  a  science. 
Nor  is  charity  organization  dismayed  by  being  opposed  as  cold  and 
unsympathetic.  The  medical  and  surgical  arts  are  constant  witnesses 
to  the  truth  that  severe  remedies  are  sometimes  the  most  efficacious, 
and  that  to  be  truly  helpful  to  a  sufferer,  the  adviser  must  be  intelli- 
gent, calm,  firm,  and  self-controlled.  As  the  analogy  between  the 
diseases  of  the  human  body  and  the  failures  of  human  society  is  appa- 
rent, so  too  are  the  analogies  of  treatment.  There  must  be  a  science 
of  pathology,  which  ascertains  and  describes  the  characteristic  lesions, 
before  empirical  methods  can  be  superseded  and  the  true  principles  of 
hygienic  and  sanitary  science  be  established.  In  social  as  in  bodily 
ailments  the  art  of  healing  must  be  based  upon  ascertained  facts  and 
on  accumulated  experience. 

Secondly.  It  is  another  principle  of  charity  organization  that  there 
shall  be  no  needless  expenditure  of  force,  no  dissipation  of  energy. 
Four  agencies,  which  are  at  work  in  almost  every  community — civil, 
ecclesiastical,  associated  and  individual  beneficence — must  be  brought 
into  such  harmonious  relations,  that  there  will  be  no  overlapping  or 
duplication  of  charitable  support.  The  State  has  its  legitimate  prov- 
ince; so  has  religious  sympathy  and  good  will;  so  has  associated  or 
institutional  activity;  so  has  private  generosity.  The  effort  of  charity 
organization  is  to  protect  each  of  these  humane  influences  and  likewise 


X  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

to  prevent  their  rivalry  and  conflict.  There  are  two  dangers  ever 
hovering  over  a  charitable  community, — that  the  expenses  of  adminis- 
tration will  be  disproportionate  to  the  good  accomplished:  and  that 
for  the  lack  of  adjustment  and  co-operation,  the  recipient  of  aid  will  be 
so  amply  supplied  that  he  becomes  permanently  dependent  or  pauper- 
ized. It  is  only  by  careful  comparison  of  the  facts  that  the  benevolent 
forces  of  any  community  can  be  wisely  and  economically  administered. 
Co-operation  in  charity  is  of  prime  importance. 

Thirdly.  Charity,  to  be  really  and  permanently  efficacious,  must 
always  (except  in  emergencies,  like  fire,  accident,  and  sudden  illness), 
be  guided  by  personal  acquaintance  with  the  wants  that  are  to  be  re- 
lieved. Indiscriminate  almsgiving  at  the  door  or  on  the  street;  the  free 
bestowal  of  food  "  no  questions  being  asked;"  spasmodic  liberality  one 
day  and  crisp  parsimony  the  next;  the  avoidance  of  particular  inquiries 
in  respect  to  the  conditions  of  those  who  seek  assistance,  may  satisfy  the 
conscience  of  a  tender-hearted  person,  but  his  alms  will  probably 
aggravate  in  his  beneficiaries  the  distresses  that  ought  to  be  healed. 
No  process  is  more  favorable  to  the  encouragement  of  improvidence, 
laziness  and  intemperance,  than  the  heedless  generosity  which  gives  to 
all  who  ask  without  discrimination.  Nevertheless,  busy  people,  espe- 
cially in  large  towns,  are  often  unable  to  make  domiciliary  visits.  Here 
come  in  the  associated  charities.  A  central  office  with  its  auxiliaries, 
and  especially  with  its  staff  of  agents  and  visitors,  w^ill  investigate  for 
those  who  cannot  make  their  own  enquiries  every  apparent  case  of 
need. 

Fourthly.  The  best  of  all  charities  is  not  that  which  gives  something 
for  nothing;  but  that  which  gives  something  in  return  for  industry, 
labor,  economy,  self-sacrifice  and  self-help.  Work,  for  the  strong  and 
healthy,  is  better  far  than  a  dole.  Useful  labor,  fairly  requited,  uplifts 
the  needy  man  by  perpetuating  the  consciousness  that  he  does  not 
belong  to  an  impoverished  class;  bounties  carelessly  bestowed,  without 
any  return,  tend  to  place  the  recipient  in  the  ranks  oT  the  pauper. 
This  principle  does  not  prevent  generous  treatment  of  those  who  are 
dependent,  good  pay  for  their  work,  and  special  help  in  times  of  sick- 
ness and  distress;  nor  kindness  to  those  who  are  rearing  and  teaching 
young  children,  to  those  who  are  in  sorrow,  to  those  suddenly  thrown 
out  of  work.  The  effort  is  always  to  be  made  to  keep  from  sinking 
lower  those  who  by  misconduct  or  misfortune  are  on  the  verge  of  per- 
manent shiftlessness  and   distress.      But   the  main  stay  of  every  family, 


^  A  PANORAMA  OF  CHARITABLE  WORK  IN  MANY  LANDS.         X.i 

as  of  every  individual,  must  be  work,  unless  age  or  infirmity  intervenes; 
and  those  who  are  charitably  disposed  do  the  greatest  service  to  the 
needy  by  providing  for  them  tasks  of  a  useful  character  for  which  a 
rootferate  payment  can  be  made. 

.^tt'  short,  Education,  Registration,  Co-operation,  Visitation,  and  the 
Provision  of  Employment,  are  the  five-fold  agencies  upon  which  the 
leaders  in  charities  are  united. 

From  these  general  considerations  let  us  proceed  to  notice  the  papers 
contained  in  this  volume.  First  comes  an  admirable  statement  of  the 
office  of  Charity  set  forth  in  an  address  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Francis  G. 
Peabody  of  Harvard.  This  is  followed  by  a  report  of  the  discussions 
elicited  after  hearing  the  essays  read  to  the  conference  in  Chicago. 
Many  of  the  most  intelligent  workers  in  the  charity  organization 
societies  of  this  country  took  part  in  these  debates,  and  often  in  the 
familiar  phrases  of  their  off-hand  expression,  pithy  statements  and 
concrete  illustrations  were  brought  forth.  They  illuminated  many 
sombre  chapters  of  accumulated  experience.  Then  come  ninety  pages 
on  the  work  of  charity  organization  in  the  Uiiited  States,  introduced 
by  a  very  valuable  compact  history  of  the  movement,  by  Mr.  C.  D. 
Kellogg,  Secretary  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society  in  New  York. 
Twenty  years  ago  there  were  no  such  associations  in  America.  Now 
there  are  ninety-two  in  this  country  and  Canada.  No  one  is  better 
qualified  than  Mr.  Kellogg  to  make  such  a  review.  The  communica- 
tion unabridged  is  to  appear  in  the  report  of  the  Twentieth  National 
Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction. 

The  examples  of  associated  charities  are  introduced  by  an  historical 
paper  on  the  State  Charities  Aid  Association  of  New  York  by  one  of 
the  original  and  chief  supporters  of  that  work.  Miss  Louisa  Lee  Schuy- 
ler, It  is  a  remarkable  exhibit,  in  most  respects  unicjue,  of  the  possi- 
bility of  enlisting  friendly,  voluntary  agencies,  in  the  visitation  of  pub- 
lic institutions  without  awakening  the  opposition,  but  rather  with  the 
welcome,  of  the  governing  authorities.  This  is  only  a  part  of  the  good 
work  accomplished  by  the  association.  The  acquaintance  thus  acquired 
in  respect  to  the  needs  of  the  State  enabled  the  managers  to  suggest 
and  support  many  independent  agencies  of  beneficence, — such  as  the 
training  of  nurses  for  hospital  and  for  private  service;  the  collection 
of  books  and  papers  for  public  institutions;  the  opening  of  temporary 
homes  for  needy  children;   the  provision  of  immediate  aid  to  the  injured; 


Xn  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

the  establishment  of  a  municipal  lodging  house  in  New  York;  and  the 
abolition  of  the  poor-house  system  of  caring  for  the  insane. 

New  Jersey  is  the  only  state  which  has  endeavored  to  follow  the 
example  thus  set  by  New  York,  and  the  story  of  the  Charities  Aid  Asso- 
ciation of  New  Jersey  is  told  by  Mrs.  Williamson.  This  society  is  only 
seven  years  old,  but  its  value  is  demonstrated  by  the  simple  state- 
ment of  what  has  been  accomplished  in  that  brief  period. 

Indeed,  as  one  reads  the  narrative  of  these  two  societies,  so  full  of 
sensible,  judicious  and  practical  suggestions  in  respect  to  the  possible 
co-operation  of  official  authority  and  private  philanthropy,  it  appears 
strange  that  the  example  has  not  been  more  widely  followed.  Doubt- 
less this  clear  summary  of  experiences  will  suggest  to  the  citizens  of 
other  states  the  value  of  kindred  organizations.  The  considera- 
tion, the  tact,  the  devotion  and  the  intelligence  enlisted  gratuitously 
in  the  public  service  are  above  praise. 

Mrs.  Charles  R.  Lowell  of  New  York  next  discusses  the  question 
whether  labor  colonies  are  needed  in  the  United  States,  describing 
the  experiment  at  Plainville,  N.  J.,  from  1874  to  1888,  contrasting  it 
with  kindred  European  colonies.  Her  conclusion  is  that  labor  colonies 
are  not  needed  in  this  country  to  provide  an  opportunity  to  work,  but 
that  they  are  needed  for  training,  and  that  to  be  successful  they  must 
be  under  public  control. 

The  methods  by  which  unskilled  labor  has  been  employed  in  various 
American  cities  are  next  described  by  Mr.  Alfred  T.  White,  President 
of  the  Bureau  of  Charities  in  Brooklyn,  who  presents  in  a  few  conclud- 
ing sentences  the  results  of  a  great  deal  of  experience  and  observation. 

The  next  paper  is  a  discussion  of  "Registration,"  that  is  to  say,  of 
the  practice  so  prevalent  in  charity  organizations  of  keeping  records  of 
the  relief  furnished  by  the  various  co-operating  agencies  of  any  city. 
Those  who  are  unfamiliar  with  this  most  important  feature  of  modern 
charitable  work  in  large  towns,  will  here  find  the  advantages  of  it  ex- 
plained and  the  objections  answered  in  a  paper  prepared  by  Miss  F.  R. 
Morse  of  Boston. 

Friendly  Visiting  is  essential  to  the  eftective  relief  of  the  poor,  and 
this  work  is  probably  better  done  in  Boston  than  any  where  else  in  this 
country.  The  requisites  of  such  service  are  set  forth  in  a  paper  by  Mrs. 
Roger  Wolcott  of  Boston.  She  does  not  favor  perfunctory  or  official 
visitations,  like  the  Elberfeld  system,  nor  even  what  is  commonly  known 
as  the  "district  "  plan,  but  she  shows  what  good  may  be  accomplished 


^  A    PANORAMA    OF    CHARITABLE    WORK.    IN    MANY    LANDS.  xiii 

when  an  intelligent  and  kind-hearted  person  becomes  the  friend  of  one 
or-t'wo  families  and  gains  their  confidence. 

The  next  two  papers  are  supplementary  to  one  another  and  relate  to 
a'ftrhdamental  question,  which  has  not  yet  received  its  final  solution, 
air'^^st  in  this  country.  The  doubtful  point  is  the  extent  to  which 
public  contributions,  that  is  allowances  from  the  treasury  of  a  city  or 
a  state,  may  be  given  to  charities  that  are  supported  and  controlled  by 
^private  individuals.  Mr.  Alexander  Johnson,  of  Indianapolis,  points 
out  the  difficulties  which  may  arise  in  the  mind  of  an  overseer  of  the 
poor,  when  he  is  asked  to  co-operate  with  a  private  charitable  organi- 
zation, shows  how  these  difficulties  have  been  and  may  be  overcome. 
Professor  Warner  (lately  at  the  head  of  the  public  charities  in  Wash- 
ington), opposes,  with  a  vigorous  argument,  the  policy  of  granting  sub- 
sidies to  private  charities.  "As  a  transition  policy  for  growing  com- 
munities and  for  new  and  developing  varieties  of  benevolent  work,  it 
may  have  its  place  ",  but  as  a  rule  "  all  that  can  be  said  against  sub- 
sidies in  general  can  be  said  against  this  form  of  subsidies,  and  more, 
because  here  we  have  to  deal  with  religious,  medical  and  social  secta- 
rianism." 

The  second  section  of  the  volume  before  us  is  devoted  to  the  papers 
which  exhibit  the  practice  of  Continental  States  in  the  relief  of  the 
destitute.  Mons.  Valleroux,  an  advocate  of  Paris,  presents  an  histori- 
cal survey  of  French  charities  as  administered  in  three  epochs, — before 
the  Revolution,  during  the  Revolution,  and  since  the  Revolution.  In 
the  first  period  he  says  that  private  beneficence  did  every  thing;  in  the 
second,  the  government  assumed  full  control,  even  to  the  extent  of  pro- 
hibiting private  charities;  in  the  new  regime,  charity  is  exercised  both 
by  the  public  authorities  and  by  individuals.  At  the  present  time,  he 
notes  a  growing  tendency  to  put  every  thing  into  the  hands  of  the  gov- 
ernment, "and  to  replace  the  ancient  form  of  charity,  done  by  the 
faithful  with  their  money  and  for  the  safety  of  their  souls,  by  a  charity 
done  by  the  administration  with  the  money  of  taxpayers  and  for  elec- 
toral purposes."  Mons.  Valleroux  adds  a  few  pages  upon  Belgium, 
where  the  historical  antecedents  are  akin  to  those  of  France.  The 
present  tendency  of  legislation  is  toward  an  alleviation  of  the  burdens 
of  the  communes  and  the  increase  of  those  of  the  central  government. 

Signor  Rossi  discusses  the  charitable  organizations  of  Italy,  giving  a 
brief  historical  preface,  and  introducing  elaborate  statistical  tables, 
most  of  which  are   based  upon  the   government  returns  of  1880.     One 


XIV  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

of  the  most  interesting  parts  of  this  essay  is  the  analysis  ot  the  Poor 
Law  of  i8go.  If  the  benevolence  of  the  middle  ages  was  almsgiving, 
modern  charity  is  "work  and  education",  and  "the  new  law  of  Italy 
is  imbued  with  this  spirit." 

A  paper  by  Baron  Von  Reitzenstein  of  Freiburg,  Baden,  which  was 
pjepared  for  the  first  section  of  the  Congress,  is  here  presented  in  an 
abstract.  This  is  far  from  doing  justice  to  an  extended  and  suggestive 
paper  to  which  the  student  must  be  referred.  It  gives  a  comparative 
view  of  the  methods  of  relief  employed  in  different  countries,  and  it 
praises  the  charity  organization  societies  of  England  and  America, 
while  the  Elberfeld  system  of  Germany  receives  the  highest  place  among 
existing  methods,  because  it  reserves  to  the  township  the  administra- 
tion of  relief,  while  it  also  makes  the  freest  use  of  the  unpaid  services 
of  responsible  private  citizens. 

This  is  a  good  introduction  to  the  two  papers  which  come  next,  on 
the  Elberfeld  system  of  poor  relief,  prepared  by  Dr.  Theodore  Munster- 
berg  of  Hamburg,  and  by  Dr.  Thoma  of  Freiburg.  "Organization," 
says  Munsterberg,  "is  the  magic  word  which  alone  can  solve  these  difficult 
problems."  Good  results  depend  "upon  the  consideration  and  treat- 
ment of  each  individual  case."  This  principle  of  "individualization" 
was  brought  to  life,  forty  years  ago  in  Elberfeld,  and  now  stands  in 
Germany  "as  the  type  of  a  good  and  appropriate  system  of  poor 
relief."  After  giving  some  details  in  respect  to  the  methods  of  this 
system,  the  author  states  that  other  large  and  small  cities,  Leipsic, 
Dresden,  Konigsberg,  Frankfort  o.  M.,  Cologne,  etc.,  have  adopted 
the  Elberfeld  plan,  and  he  shows  particularly  the  results  attained  in 
Hamburg,  a  city  of  600,000  inhabitants,  where  some  noteworthy  modi- 
fications of  the  plan  were  adopted  in  1893,  with  signs  of  great  promise. 

Dr.  Thoma,  reminding  the  reader  that  an  overseer  or  visitor  of  the 
poor,  has  at  most  but  four  cases  to  look  after,  describes  the  success  of 
the  Elberfeld  system  in  Freiburg,  Breisgau,  where  it  was  introduced 
in  1879.  While  he  admits  that  there  are  here  and  there  weak  points 
which  come  to  light  only  in  practice,  he  is  persuaded  of  the  excellence 
of  his  plan  and  believes  that  "the  splendid  results  achieved  since  1853 
indicate  that  the  system  will  hold  its  position  in  the  future,  not  only  in 
Freiburg,  but  in  all  Germany." 

To  these  two  papers  a  noteworthy  addition  is  made  by  Herr  Seyffardt, 
who  is  the  presiding  officer  of  the  charity  administration  in  Crefeld. 


^      A    PANORAMA    OF    CHARITABLE    WORK    IN    MANY    LANDS.  XV 

In  reply  to  an  inquiry  from  our  colleague,  Rev.  John  Graham  Brooks, 
as  to,  whether  it  was  often  found  necessary  for  the  central  board  to  over- 
rule the  decisions  of  the  local  overseers  or  visitors,  he  admits  that  some 
such-*upervision  is  sometimes  requisite,  but  he  deprecates  any  action 
whichijvould  "weaken  the  very  vital  nerve  of  the  Elberfeld  system, — 
the  moral  responsibility  of  the  overseer  for  the  poor  whom  he  has  to 
take  care  of." 

Two  important  communications  came  from  Dr.  Victor  Bohmert, 
chief  of  the  Royal  Statistical  Bureau  in  Saxony.  In  the  first,  he  pre- 
sents an  argument  for  the  organization  of  public  poor  relief  and  for  the 
supervision  of  private  charities,  and  he  quotes  as  applicable  to  the  large 
towns  of  Germany  this  remonstrance  from  the  Board  of  Charities  in 
Paris.  It  is  instructive  to  notice  that  the  evils  so  apparent  in  American 
cities  are  equally  apparent  under  other  forms  of  government  and  admin- 
istration. These  are  the  words  quoted  from  Paris:  "The  same  per- 
sons are  relieved  twice  and  oftener;  much  money  and  labor  is  squan- 
dered; the  capital  is  overwhelmed  with  the  destitute  from  the  provinces 
and  abroad,  who  can  neither  be  properly  relieved  nor  sent  back  to 
their  homes. ' '  Dr.  Bohmert  briefly  indicates  the  attempts  made  in  Prussia 
and  Austria  to  secure  co-operation  among  the  public  and  private  agencies 
for  the  relief  of  distress;  and  in  greater  detail  he  brings  out  the  experi- 
ence of  Dresden,  the  capital  of  Saxony,  a  city  of  276,000  inhabitants. 
Here  in  1880  the  Elberfeld  system  was  adopted.  Four  hundred  official 
overseers  were  appointed,  to  each  of  whom  not  more  than  five  cases 
were  assigned.  A  society  for  the  prevention  of  pauperism  and  mendi- 
cancy soon  enrolled  4,000  members,  and  soon  established  a  rent 
savings  bank,  workshops  for  residents  and  transients  out  of  work,  and 
an  employment  bureau.  Finally  the  public  authorities  instituted  a  cen- 
tral bureau  of  information  and  called  upon  all  the  voluntary  organiza- 
tions "to  join  in  the  officially  prepared  plans  and  enter  into  closer 
relations  with  one  another,  as  well  as  with  the  public  relief."  The  par- 
ticulars of  this  movement  are  very  suggestive  and  instructive,  but  an 
American  reader  cannot  fail  to  notice  that  similar  action  on  the  part 
of  our  municipalities,  in  the  present  unfortunate  conditions  of  city 
government,  would  certainly  be  fruitless.  At  present  we  must  strive 
for  co-operation  by  the  forces  of  moral  suasion  and  not  of  city  ordi- 
nances. Dr.  Bohmert  firmly  believes  in  the  co-operation  of  public  and 
private  agencies,  and  commends  the  experience  of  Elberfeld  and  Cre- 
feld,  "two  model  cities  in  the  organization  of  poor  relief." 


XVI  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

The  second  paper  of  this  able  writer,  describes  the  Volkswohi,  or 
People's  Club  of  Dresden,  for  the  promotion  of  evening  entertain- 
ments, lectures,  concerts,  refreshment  rooms,  homes  for  girls,  homes 
for  apprentices,  and  other  agencies  for  the  alleviation  of  the  lot  of 
those  who  are  not  impoverished,  but  are  bread  winners  on  small  pay 
and  without  access  to  the  comforts  and  recreations  that  are  enjoyed  by 
the  more  favored  classes.  This  paper  is  an  excellent  concrete  illustra- 
tion of  the  way  in  which  the  life  of  those  who  are  humble  and  destitute, 
but  not  downcast  or  forlorn,  may  be  enriched  and  elevated. 

A  brief  paper  from  Dr.  Georgievsky  of  St.  Petersburg  gives  a  sum- 
mary of  the  charitable  works  of  the  Russian  capital,  and  indicates  the 
inception  of  a  scheme  for  introducing  a  special  bureau  of  information, 
like  that  which  has  been  successful  in  Dresden. 

The  third  section  of  our  volume  is  devoted  to  Great  Britain.  To  the 
efficient  co-operation  of  Mr.  C.  S.  Loch,  Secretary  of  the  Charity 
Organization  Society  of  London,  the  Chicago  Congress  is  greatly 
indebted.  By  his  kind  mediation,  papers  have  been  brought  together 
illustrating  the  opinions  of  men  and  women  respecting  charity  organi- 
zation in  the  metropolis.  The  experience  of  Marylebone,  a  west  end 
district,  where  begging  abounded  and  benefactions  overlapped  until 
better  methods  were  employed,  may  be  contrasted  with  a  plain  and 
unembellished  tale  of  Whitechapel.  Shoreditch,  St.  Olave's,  and  Isling- 
ton also  furnish  memoirs.  The  London  chapter  concludes  with  a  paper 
by  Mr.  T.  Mackay  on  co-operation  between  the  public  and  private 
charitable  agencies.  The  aims  of  the  society  to  secure  reforms  of  the 
Poor  Law  are  distinctly  brought  out.  This  section  concludes  with  a 
similar  series  of  papers  from  industrial  centres, — Manchester,  Roch- 
dale, Bristol,  Aberdeen, — and  from  Bradfield,  a  rural  union,  ''where 
outdoor  relief  has  almost  reached  the  vanishing  point,  and  where  some 
of  the  principles  of  charity  organization  were  formulated  as  far  back 
as  1834,  although  there  is  no  charity  organization  society." 

The  writers  of  the  British  papers  are  these:  Mr.  C.  S.  Loch,  Rev.  B. 
H.  Alford,  Rev.  Dr.  Bradby,  Mr.  C.  N.  Nicholson,  Mr.  C.  P.  Larner, 
Miss  L.  Sharpe,  Mr.  T.  Mackay,  Mr.  Alexander  McDougall,  Mis.s 
Elizabeth  Sturge,  Mr.  R.  A.  Leach,  Mr.  George  Milne,  Mr.  H.  G.  VVil- 
link,  Rev.  Brooke  Lambert,  Miss  F.  C.  Prideaux,  Mr.  B.  Fleming  and 
Mr.  C.  H.  Wyatt. 

To  this  review,  which  is  intended  to  facilitate  the  perusal  of  a 
rather  complex  collection  of  papers,  some  conclusions  may  be  added. 


.'*'         A    PANORAMA    OF    CHARITABLE    WORK    IN    MANY    LANDS.  XV 11 

These  essays  embody  the  most  recent  observations,  experience  and 
sugg'estions  of  some  of  the  ablest  promoters  of  associated  and  organ- 
ized charities  in  Great  Britain,  on  the  continent  and  in  this  country. 
Th&yare  written  for  the  direct  purpose  of  enlightening  and  helping 
th^great  hosts  of  benevolent  persons  who  are  so  humane  as  to  be 
devoted  to  the  relief  of  the  distressed  and  cast  down,  and  who  are  at 
the  same  time  so  intelligent  that  they  wish  to  work  upon  the  best  plans, 
3Yith-  the  greatest  prospects  of  success.  The  careful  study  of  these 
papers,  with  the  critical  and  suggestive  comments,  may  be  commended 
to  the  members  of  charity  organization  boards  throughout  this  country. 
The  papers  are  undoubtedly  technical,  devoted  to  matters  of  fact. 
For  this  very  reason  they  will  well  reward  the  careful  reader.  But  it  is 
hoped  that  another  class  of  persons  will  be  helped  by  this  volume,  the 
students  of  social  economics  and  the  writers  of  articles  on  pauperism  and 
charities,  and  also  the  administrators  of  almshouses,  workhouses  and 
the  other  manifold  establishments  which  deal  with  the  unfortunate  and 
neglected. 

In  the  bestowal  of  charity  and  in  the  prevention  of  misery,  the  world 
has  reached  a  new  epoch.  It  is  clearly  perceived  that  some  measures 
afford  only  temporary  gratification  to  the  giver  and  the  recipient,  while 
others  promote  the  permanent  improvement  of  character.  Kind  senti- 
ments are  not  dulled  by  the  study  of  facts.  On  the  contrary,  they 
are  not  most  devoted  to  the  poor  who  drop  a  quarter  or  a  nickel  in 
the  hand  of  every  beggar,  but  those  who  take  pains  to  follow  up  each 
applicant,  personally  or  through  some  vicarious  friend,  until  the  real 
needs  of  the  applicant  are  discovered,  and  the  measures  of  permanent  re- 
lief are  applied.  "Not  alms  but  a  friend,"  "not  doles  but  employ- 
ment," "not  help  for  an  instant,  but  permanent  relief,"  "not  degrad- 
ing but  uplifting  aid"  are  the  watchwords  of  modern  charity.  Thus 
the  needy  are  kept  from  becoming  paupers,  and  those  who  are  striving 
to  do  their  best  are  helped  upward  and  onward.  Nobody  doubts  that 
material  relief,  food,  fuel,  clothing,  must  be  given  away,  and  in  times 
of  emergency,  when  hard  times  prevail,  the  bounty  of  the  forehanded 
must  be  bestowed  on  those  who  arc  suffering.  But  one  method  will 
aggravate  the  disability;  another  method  will  remove  it.  Co-operation 
between  all  private  and  church  associations,  and  where  possible  with  the 
public  authorities,  leads  at  once  to  the  careful  registration  of  what  is 
done  and  what  remains  to  be  done.  Then  comes  personal  investigation 
with  sympathy  and  counsel  for   those  who   will   accept   it.      Relief  can 

B 


XVlll      INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

always  be  secured  when  necessity  is  apparent.  Those  whose  degrada- 
tion and  wickedness  prevents  their  response  to  these  elevating  influences 
must  pay  the  penalty  of  their  habits  and  be  placed  in  the  almshouse  or 
the  infirmary  or  the  prison. 

Social  reforms  go  very  slowly.  It  is  much  easier  for  men  to  walk  in 
the  ways  to  which  they  are  wonted  than  to  mark  out  and  traverse  better 
routes.  But  by  persistence  reforms  are  accomplished.  Science,  which 
is  only  another  word  for  exact  knowledge,  always  has  the  worst  of  it  in 
its  first  struggle  with  ignorance  and  prejudice;  but  it  always  wins  in  the 
end.  Science  has  only  just  taken  up  the  problem  of  relief.  It  has  not 
yet  made  a  careful  survey  of  the  situation.  The  subtle  but  perva- 
sive influences  of  religion,  legislation,  administration,  finance,  custom, 
prejudice  and  tradition  are  factors,  the  significance  of  which  is  not  fully 
understood,  and  will  not  be  for  generations  to  come.  But  meanwhile 
a  good  deal  has  been  ascertained,  and  upon  these  ascertained  facts  very 
good  working  plans  may  even  now  be  built.  Human  suffering  can  be 
greatly  relieved,  if  it  cannot  be  prevented  or  exterminated. 

The  human  race  seems  likely  to  replenish  its  fallen  ranks  with  a  cer- 
tain number  of  the  incompetent,  the  inefficient,  the  weak-witted,  the 
vicious.  It  will  always  be  a  problem  how  far  such  persons  are  to  be 
dealt  with  by  the  severe  methods  of  the  law,  or  by  the  gentler  agen- 
cies of  kindness.  But  the  denizens  of  the  lower  stratum  are  not  nearly 
so  numerous,  nor  so  difficult  to  deal  with,  as  those  who  have  been  fairly 
well  off,  but  who  now  (it  may  be  by  their  own  faults, — it  may  be  by  the 
faults  of  others, — it  may  be  by  circumstances  and  conditions  which 
human  analysis  cannot  reveal),  have  entered  on  the  downward  road,  or 
are  in  danger  of  making  that  fearful  descent.  These  we  can  reach. 
Organization,  co-operation,  and  friendly  visitation  are  the  general 
agencies  which  in  each  particular  case  of  need  will  bring  out  the  abun- 
dant resources  of  a  charitable  community. 


THE    PROBLEM    OF    CHARITY.  xix 


^ 


THE    PROBLEM    OF    CHARITY. 

BY    REV.     FRANCIS    G.     PEABODY,    PROFESSOR    OF     CHRISTIAN     ETHICS,     HAR- 
.-t .  ■'"  YARD    UNIVERSITY. 

The  first  and  the  most  interesting  thought  with  ^vhich  one  faces  an 
assemblage  like  this,  is  the  thought  of  the  special  quality  and  character 
of  life  which  it  represents.  Other  Congresses  in  this  great  series  will 
gather  here  many  of  the  world's  most  conspicuous  names  and  most 
famous  leaders,  but  the  meeting  which  begins  to-day  does  not  depend 
on  reputation  or  fame  to  fulfil  its  rich  opportunity.  It  is  not  a  Con- 
gress of  those  who  are  achieving  great  names  for  themselves  or  famous 
deeds  for  their  country ;  it  is  the  Congress  of  self-sacrifice,  the  meeting 
of  those  who  are  content  to  be  unknown  if  only  the  world  in  which 
they  live  can  be  made  better  through  their  service.  It  stands  for  quiet 
self-forgetfulness  and  unassuming  devotion.  It  is  a  Congress  whose 
special  motto  might  be  that  strange  word  of  the  Christian  gospel:  "He 
that  would  be  the  greatest  among  you  shall  be  the  servant  of  all."  I 
see  the  delegates  to  such  a  Congress  gathering  here  from  all  their  dif- 
ferent works  of  self-eft'acing  benevolence;  I  see  you  coming  from  your 
asylums  and  reformatories,  from  your  charity  offices  with  their  pathetic 
clients,  and  from  your  beautiful  visitations  in  many  a  sunless  home ; 
and  yet,  as  you  meet,  I  see  in  your  faces  not  the  weary  look  of  those 
who  have  borne  with  much  hard  duty,  but  the  unaffected  happiness 
which  comes  to  men  and  women  only  through  a  life  of  generosity  and 
service.  I  congratulate  you  on  this  great  privilege  of  your  chosen  work. 
It  is  a  great  joy  to  feel  sure,  as  you  may,  that  in  your  vocation  you  are 
dealing  with  the  central  problems  of  this  modern  age. 

The  fundamental  law  of  the  naturalist  is  said  to  be  the  survival  of 
the  fit ;  the  much  more  fundamental  law  of  the  charity  worker  is  the 
revival  of  the  unfit;  and  this  revival  of  the  fitness  to  survive  in  the 
degraded  and  outcast,  the  unfortunate  and  defeated  in  the  competition 
of  life,  is  the  new  science  for  whose  transforming  power  the  world  is 
waiting,  and  whose  ministers  it  is  your  ha])])y  privilege  to  be. 


XX  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

Many  of  you,  no  doubt,  are  so  immersed  by  the  details  and  routine 
of  your  daily  life  that  you  hardly  realize  the  nature  of  this  extraordi- 
nary spiritual  movement  in  which  you  have  your  part.  If  in  these  days, 
as  of  old,  the  Master  of  the  spiritual  life  should  come  to  you  in  your 
daily  work  and  say  :  "I  was  an  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  meat;  I 
was  naked,  and  ye  clothed  me;  sick  and  in  prison,  and  ye  came  unto 
me,"  you  would,  I  doubt  not,  answer  with  the  same  surprise  which 
others  of  the  old  time  felt:  "Master,  when  saw  we  Thee  hungry  and 
fed  Thee,  or  sick,  or  in  prison,  and  came  unto  Thee?"  No  such  great 
task  as  this  is  given  to  us  to  do.  And  yet,  I  think  that  He,  who  knew 
what  was  in  man,  if  He  could  stand  in  the  midst  of  such  an  assemblage 
as  this  with  its  devoted  workers  and  generous  administrators,  would 
say,  as  He  did  of  old,  and  with  a  deeper  sympathy  perhaps  than  He 
could  feel  in  many  a  church  that  bears  His  name:  "Inasmuch  as  you 
have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  My  brethren,  ye  have  done 
it  unto  Me." 

To  an  audience  thus  composed  I  do  not  presume  to  come  with  any 
word  of  practical  advice.  1  do  not  propose  to  offer  counsel  about 
charity  to  those  who  know  her  and  serve  her  best.  In  all  such  ques- 
tions of  past  history,  or  present  administration,  or  future  programme, 
we  are  soon  to  listen  to  wise  counsellors  of  many  nations  and  tongues, 
and  I  do  not  anticipate  the  themes  which  are  to  be  presented  to  us  in 
these  busy  days.  And  yet,  before  we  separate  to  these  varied  delibera- 
tions, it  may  be  well  to  pause  a  moment  in  the  region  of  more  general 
thoughts,  and  to  give  one  quiet  look  together  over  the  Avhole  range  of 
the  work  which  you  have  given  your  lives  to  do.  Let  us  for  a  moment 
stand  off  from  the  details  of  the  task,  as  the  artist  now  and  then  stands 
off  ftom  the  work  over  which  he  lovingly  and  laboriously  bends,  that 
he  may  the  better  see  how  each  part  is  related  to  one  harmonious  whole. 
Or  rather,  let  us  go  up — as  officers  of  an  army  go  up — out  of  the  smoke 
and  conflict  of  the  battle  they  are  fighting,  to  some  remoter  hill-top 
where  the  plan  of  the  whole  campaign  lies  less  obscured  beneath 
their  feet;  and  then,  perhaps,  we  may  go  down  again  and  take  our 
places  in  our  own  special  battalion,  and  fight  our  own  little  battle 
against  social  wrong,  with  a  renewed  and  a  more  patient  hope. 

Standing  thus  together,  then,  at  this  point  of  general  view,  I  wish  to 
ask  with  you  the  most  general  question  which  our  subject  can  possibly 
suggest:   What  is  this  phenomenon  of  charity,  I  enquire,  in  which  each 


'  THE  PROBLEM  OF  CHARITY.  XXI 

of  US  has  his  special  part?  What  is  the  nature  of  this  field  of  service 
'which  we  see  stretching  away  about  us  on  so  many  sides?  How  can 
we  define  the  work  with  which  modern  charity  undertakes  to  deal? 
,  "Wiat  is  the  problem  of  charity?  That  is  the  elementary  question 
"^wfiich  I  ask  you  to  consider.  And  the  first  and  most  general  answer 
to  this  most  general  question  is  this, — that  the  problem  of  charity  in 
the  modern  world  is  a  vastly  larger  thing  than  either  the  name  or  the 
*^  history  of  charity  might  lead  one  to  expect.  For  many  centuries  charity 
has  occupied  a  very  limited  and  special  field.  Its  sphere  has  been 
bounded  by  the  practice  of  alms-giving  for  temporary  relief.  It  has 
needed  but  two  elements;  on  the  one  hand,  the  tender-heartedness  of 
the  giver;  and,  on  the  other,  the  mendicancy  of  the  receiver.  The 
prosperous  have  felt  ill  at  ease  while  their  neighbors  suffered,  and  have 
mitigated  the  lot  of  the  unfortunate  by  doles  of  money  or  material  sup- 
port. That  has  been  the  work  of  charity.  Let  us  recognize  the  beau- 
tiful impulse  which  such  a  work  represents.  It  is  an  impulse  which  has 
its  historical  beginning  with  the  birth  of  Christianity.  Along  with 
other  mighty  truths  then  entering  into  the  world  there  came  a  new  deal 
of  human  nature,  a  sense  of  value  in  each  human  soul  for  its  own  sake, 
however  degraded  or  forsaken  that  soul  might  be.  Out  of  the  new  faith 
in  the  Fatherhood  of  God  flowed  this  other  new  faith  in  the  brother- 
hood of  men,  and  it  made  one  of  the  great  transitions  in  the  evolution 
of  the  human  race.  The  poor  and  rejected,  the  submerged  of  man- 
kind, were  regarded  in  a  wholly  new  light  when  they  were  thus  accepted 
as  essential  parts  of  the  one  body  in  Christ.  The  solidarity  of  the  race 
became  a  practical  belief.  If  one  suffered,  all  suffered  with  him.  The 
"Caritas"  of  the  Christians  gave  a  quality  and  color  to  human  rela- 
tions which  classic  civilization  never  knew.  Poverty  was  no  longer  a 
bar  to  brotherhood.  It  was  rather  an  invitation  to  the  new  fraternity. 
Through  the  custom  and  worship  of  the  early  Christian  Church  there 
ran  this  golden  thread  of  practical  faith,  that  relief  of  a  brother's  want 
was  the  first  test  of  a  true  Christian  life.  And  yet,  beautiful  as  this  new 
sense  of  value  was,  it  brought  with  it  its  own  new  danger.  The  new  zeal 
for  charity  came  to  demand  the  poverty  on  which  to  spend  itself.  The 
new  philanthropy  created  a  new  mendicancy.  Poverty  grew  by  what  it 
fed  on.  Mendicancy  came  before  long  to  be  a  profession,  and  unproduc- 
tive idleness  to  be  one  mark  of  a  saint.  The  workers  of  the  world  had 
to  support  an  increasing  number  of  these  sacred  unemployed.     There 


XXll        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

seemed  to  be  little  virtue  in  making  one's  honest  living,  but  great  vir- 
tue in  giving  alms  to  those  who  did  not  make  their  living.  Thus  Chris- 
tian charity  threatened  to  become,  for  .the  rich,  little  more  than  the  sen- 
timental atonement  for  prosperity;  and  for  the  poor  a  grave  temptation 
to  indolence,  pauperism  and  fraud.  How  slowly  any  change  was  to 
come  in  this  conception  of  charity  is  to  be  seen  even  now  in  many  an 
Oriental  nation,  where  alms-giving  and  mendicancy  are  still  all  that 
represent  the  work  of  charity,  and  where  the  notion  of  a  Congress  of 
scientific  students  to  discuss  the  principles  of  charity  would  seem  simply 
absurd.  But  in  western  Europe  and  the  countries  populated  therefrom, 
partly  through  a  better  understanding  of  Christianity  itself,  and  partly 
through  the  growth  of  the  scientific  spirit,  a  new  range  of  opportunity 
has  by  degrees  opened  before  the  work  of  charity.  The  new  forms  of 
industrial  life,  the  vastly  greater  social  complexity,  the  increasing  wealth, 
the  manifold  inventions  and  the  democratic  spirit  of  the  last  fifty  years, 
have  made  for  us  a  new  social  environment,  with  new  problems  calling 
for  new  rules  of  conduct.  Just  as  our  methods  of  trade  have  been 
transformed  by  steam  and  telegraph  so  that  the  sailing-vessel  to  the 
Indies  and  the  merchant's  letter  of  advice  are  now  like  ancient  history 
to  us,  so  modern  charity  has  by  degrees  left  behind  it  the  elementary 
relation  of  giving  and  receiving,  and  has  become  a  part  of  the  great 
complex  unity  of  modern  life.  It  is  not  that  the  earlier  ideal  has  had 
to  be  out-grown,  but  that  it  has  had  to  be  intelligently  directed.  We 
inherit  from  the  past  of  philanthropy  this  great  spiritual  force,  which 
has  proved  itself  a  natural  part  of  human  life  just  as  the  force  of  steam 
or  of  electricity  is  a  natural  part  of  the  physical  world,  and  we  are  now 
called,  not  to  the  repression  of  this  impulse  to  charity,  but  to  the  dis- 
cipline of  it  for  the  service  of  the  world.  The  scientific  mind  fastens 
on  this  dynamic  capacity  of  the  love  of  man,  just  as  it  takes  possession 
of  the  electric  current  and  harnesses  it  to  the  machinery  of  modern  life; 
and  then  this  force  of  Christian  feeling  which  in  its  undisciplined  use 
threatened  peril  to  society,  for  the  first  time  discloses  the  many  direc- 
tions in  which  it  can  be  profitably  applied,  and  the  larger  service  it  was 
designed  to  do.  Just  as  the  electric  flash  is  applied  to  its  scientific  ser- 
vice of  heat  and  light  and  motion,  so  the  instinct  of  charity,  instead  of 
being  an  occasional  sentiment  lighting  up  here  and  there  the  selfish 
world  as  an  electric  flash  lights  up  a  midnight  sky,  becomes  the  foun- 
dation  of  a  science  and   is  practically  utilized   in   ways  of  which   the 


'T  THE    PROBLEM    OF    CHARITY.  XXIU 

•earlier  world  did  not  dream.  The  old  charity  was  simply  the  unre- 
flecting expression  of  the  sheer  emotion  of  pity;  the  new  charity  directs 
this  emotion  along  definite  economic  lines.  The  old  charity  satisfied 
&ifF  feelings  of  the  giver  by  alms;  the  new  charity  educates  the  receiver 
,J^do  without  alms.  The  old  charity  was  temporary  relief;  the  new- 
charity  is  continuous  education.  The  old  charity  had  but  one  way  of 
■expression;  the  new  charity  has  a  thousand  channels.  Often  the  most 
^charitable  course  is  that  which  has  the  least  so-called  charity  about  it. 
It  is  better  charity  to  find  work  than  to  relieve  want,  better  charity  to 
teach  a  trade  than  to  encourage  the  trade  of  mendicancy,  better  charity 
to  provide  stimulus  for  thrift  than  to  make  thrift  unnecessary.  The 
■old  charity  met  the  drunken  beggar  on  the  street  and  gave  him  the 
means  for  his  further  degradation;  the  new  charity  meets  a  drunken 
woman  on  the  crowded  thoroughfare — as  did  one  fair  girl  in  one  of  our 
great  cities  not  long  ago — puts  an  arm  round  the  poor  bewildered 
wretch,  passes  down  the  busy  street  hand  locked  in  hand,  puts  the 
woman  to  bed,  and  then  watches  the  patient  from  day  to  day  until 
at  last  the  demon  of  drink  may  be  driven  out  by  the  expulsive  power 
of  a  new  affection,  and  the  body  and  soul  of  a  human  being  may  be 
saved . 

Such  is  modern  charity  in  its  new  summons  to  its  larger  work.  And 
now  I  go  on  to  ask  once  more  for  a  definition  of  the  conduct  thus  de- 
scribed. What  is  the  problem  of  charity  as  it  thus  opens-  before  us  in 
this  new  breadth  and  scope?  It  is,  I  answer,  a  twofold  problem — the 
same  problem  which  meets  any  man  who  has  at  his  command  a  special 
force  with  which  to  work,  and  a  special  work  .given  for  that  force  to  do. 
Here,  on  the  one  hand,  is  this  power  of  a  great  spiritual  idea,  and  here, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  the  mighty  mechanism  of  modern  life  with  its 
awful  contrasts,  its  pitiful  competitions,  its  tragic  incidents  ;  and  to 
apply  this  ideal  to  this  reality — that  is  the  problem  of  charity.  It  is,  in 
short,  ethics  applied  to  economics  ;  the  sense  of  duty  introduced  as  a 
dynamic  into  the  complex  machinery  of  the  modern  world.  And  what 
does  this  problem  demand  of  charity?  It  demands  two  elements,  each 
perfectly  distinct  and  each  absolutely  essential.  One  element  is  the 
method  of  charity:  the  other  is  its  motive.  The  method  must  be  the 
method  of  business.  It  must  not  conflict  with  economic  principles  ;  it 
must  conform  to  them  and  reinforce  them.  The  motive,  on  the  other 
hand,  must  be  that  of  ethics — the  same  sense  of  l^rotherhood  which  once 


XXIV       INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

satisfied  itself  with  almsgiving,  precisely  as  active  in  its  influence,  but 
disciplined  in  its  use.  And  here  at  once  appear  the  two  risks  of  modern 
charity — risks  which  are  equally  familiar  and  equally  misleading.  Char- 
ity may,  on  the  one  hand,  be  unbusiness-like,  so  that  the  motive  lacks 
method;  or  charity  may  become  wholly  a  matter  of  business,  so  that  the 
method  lacks  motive.  You  may  introduce  the  power  carelessly,  and  then 
your  machine  will  be  shattered;  or,  you  may  trust  to  the  machine  to  run 
itself,  and  then  the  machine  will  stop.  Here,  then,  are  the  two  cardi- 
nal principles  of  charity— its  economic  method  and  its  supra-economic 
impulse.  The  one  gives  to  charity  its  science,  the  other  preserves  to  charity 
its  sentiment.  Science  without  sentiment  is  like  an  engine  without  steam; 
beautifully  adjusted  it  may  be  in  all  its  parts,  but  practically  a  lifeless- 
structure.  Sentiment  without  science  is  like  steam  which  is  unapplied  to 
its  proper  work  or  unchecked  in  its  expansion.  The  moment  one  con- 
siders the  nature  of  any  modern  movement  of  charity,  he  sees  these  two- 
opposite  aspects  of  the  case.  Take,  for  instance,  the  work — now  so- 
widely  and  beneficently  undertaken — of  providing  improved  lodgings 
for  the  poor.  The  first  test  of  such  a  scheme  is,  as  you  are  well  aware, 
the  business  test.  To  be  wise  charity,  such  an  undertaking  must,  first  of 
all,  be  good  business;  and  the  demonstration  that  security,  privacy  and 
cleanliness  can  be  provided  for  the  poor  on  strictly  commercial  terms- 
and  with  business  success,  makes  perhaps  the  most  conspicuous  triumph 
of  scientific  charity.  But  turn  the  same  case  round  and  the  other  side 
of  the  problem  appears.  What  is  it,  after  all,  that  makes  such  dwell- 
ings financial  successes?  It  is  that  they  express  the  thoughtfulness,  con- 
siderateness  and  justice  of  those  who  built  them.  Put  them  in  the  hands^ 
of  unscrupulous  owners,  and  the  very  elements  which  induce  good 
tenants  to  seek  them — the  safety,  the  privacy,  the  inducement  to  thrift — 
disappear,  and  with  these  disappears  also  the  commercial  advantage. 
Thus  the  motive  which  distinguishes  such  lodgings  from  the  surround- 
ing rookeries  is,  after  all,  what  gives  them  their  business.  Philanthropy 
rightly  directed  has  economic  value.  Wise  charity  is  good  business. 
Benevolence  has  a  place  in  the  modern  industrial  world.  Or,  observe 
again  this  same  twofold  character  in  your  associated  charities  system  : 
It  has  its  mechanism,  and  that  mechanism  is  disciplinary,  negative, 
stern.  But  this  machinery  only  performs  its  service  that  there  may 
work  through  it  the  mission  of  the  friendly  visitor,  bearing  a  moral 
motive  to  the  poor.      The  two  sides  of  this  system  are  essential  to  each 


^  IHE    PROBLEM    OF    CHARITY.  XXV 

olher.  Take  away  the  machinery,  and  the  friendly  visitor  has 
no^^ecurity  from  fraud  ;  take  away  the  friendly  visitor,  and  the 
system  tempts  one  to  look  for  fraud  and  little  else.  The  business 
me.tlM)d  runs  the  risk  of  hard-headedness,  and  the  kindly  friend  the  risk 
of^pft^heartedness,  and  the  twofold  nature  of  wise  charity  is  the  essen- 
tial basis  and  strength  of  the  whole  scheme.  In  the  book  of  the  pro- 
])het  Ezekiel  there  is  a  wonderful  picture  of  the  world  of  heaven.  It 
\vas  to  him  a  vision  of  many  and  bewildering  wheels.  '<The  appearance 
of  the  wheels,"  says  the  prophet,  "was  like  unto  the  color  of  a  beryl, 
and  their  work  was,  as  it  were,  a  wheel  in  the  middle  of  a  wheel."  But 
within  these  wheels,  as  the  prophet  saw  them,  there  were  living  crea- 
tures, "and  when  the  wheels  went,  the  living  creatures  went,  and 
when  the  living  creatures  had  the  spirit  to  go,  the  wheels  were  lifted  up, 
for  the  spirit  of  the  living  creatures  was  in  the  wheels."  It  is  a  pic- 
ture of  the  visions  which  so  many  earnest  workers  have  to-day  of  the 
future  of  philanthropy.  Wheels  there  must  be,  and  wheels  in  the  mid- 
dle of  wheels.  But  the  wheels  are  set  in  motion  by  the  spirit  of  life,  and 
the  spirit  of  the  living  creatures  is  in  the  wheels. 

Such  seems  to  be  the  problem  of  modern  charity — a  twofold  problem, 
partly  of  economics,  partly  of  ethics,  its  method  of  the  head,  its  spirit 
of  the  heart.  This  problem,  however,  carries  with  it  large  consequences. 
From  these  two  elements,  thus  defined,  there  issue  a  whole  series  of 
practical  rules,  to  which  wise  charity  must  conform.  Each  principle  involves 
several  corollaries.  There  are  some  rules  which  are  laid  upon  your 
charity  by  its  demand  for  economic  method,  and  there  are  some  which 
flow  directly  from  its  moral  motive,  and  together  these  corollaries  make 
up  the  condition  of  all  effective  work.  It  is  these  working  rules  of  wise 
charity  which  you,  in  your  different  sections,  are  now  to  discuss  and 
reinforce  in  all  their  variety  of  application  to  the  special  theme  which 
will  engage  you.  But  before  we  separate  to  these  special  tasks  let  us 
notice  a  few  of  the  most  elementary  of  such  rules  which  thus  proceed 
from  the  two  principles  I  have  laid  down,  first  from  the  business  method 
of  charity  and  then  from  its  ethical  impulse.  On  the  one  hand  there 
seem  to  be  three  rnost  general  demands  laid  on  our  charity  by  the  prin- 
ciple of  business  method.  And  first  among  such  I  name  knowledge — 
the  comprehensive  and  scientific  knowledge  of  the  material  with  which 
one  in  charity  has  to  deal.  It  seems  to  be  rather  an  elementary  truth 
to  say  that  business  method  needs  accurate  and  comprehensive  knowl- 


XXVI       INTERNA  riONAI,    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

edge.  A  man,  for  instance,  who  deals  in  cotton  must  first  of  all  know  all 
about  the  visible  supply,  the  probable  crop  and  the  movement  of  trade 
in  his  special  business.  The  person  who  deals  in  charitable  relief  in 
any  community  ought  first  of  all,  we  should  suppose,  to  know  the  real 
extent,  the  exact  nature  and  the  world-wide  movement  of  his  subject. 
Yet  as  a  matter  of  fact,  I  ask  you,  how  much  charity  has  behind  it  this 
kind  of  comprehensive  knowledge?  Who  knows,  for  instance,  in  his 
own  city  with  entire  precision  the  total  dimensions  of  destitution,  the 
types  to  be  dealt  with,  their  relative  size  and  special  character,  the 
occupations  represented,  the  total  number  of  the  unemployed,  the  cost 
of  living  and  the  migration  into  the  city  and  away  from  it?  Yet  it  is 
precisely  such  knowledge  which  would  give  to  charity  work,  as  it  gives 
to  all  other  business,  its  grasp  and  decision,  and  would  insure  for  it 
public  confidence.  Charity  guaranteed  by  knowledge  is  like  the  explor- 
ing of  a  dangerous  country  with  a  chart  of  it  in  your  hands.  .  It  changes 
a  series  of  incidental  and  fragmentary  observations  into  a  systematic 
campaign.  Fortunately  for  us  all,  we  have  before  us  a  monumental 
example  of  this  kind  of  charity  coast  survey  work  in  the  elaborate  and 
costly  research  of  Mr.  Charles  Booth,  of  which,  says  the  London  Spec- 
tator, "it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  it  has  done  more  to  help  the  solu- 
tion of  the  social  problem  than  any  man,  or  indeed  any  institution  or  agency 
of  the  time."  To  have  the  whole  life  of  a  great  city  laid  down  on  a  chart, 
with  the  nature  of  its  population,  its  strata  of  social  classes,  and  the 
various  rocks,  dangers  and  obstructions  which  hinder  the  movements  of 
reform  all  plainly  indicated — what  help  to  navigation  in  such  troubled 
waters  can  be  greater  than  this?  It  is  safe  to  say  that  among  the  many 
works  of  mercy  which  every  city  needs,  there  ought  to  be  included  this 
work  which  seems  rather  remote  from  mercy — the  scientific  survey  of  the 
field  to  which  mercy  is  to  be  applied.  Certainly  here  is  a  great  oppor- 
tunity in  any  city  for  an  individual  or  institution  with  the  money,  skill 
and  inclination  for  scientific  sociology.  Sooner  or  later  every  large 
town  must  be  dealt  with  in  this  way,  and  it  is  an  encouragement  to 
think  that  hardly  any  other  such  investigation  will  ever  have  to  be  so 
vast  or  so  complicated  as  this  which  has  led  the  way. 

I  name  next,  as  a  second  obvious  demand  of  business  method,  the 
union  of  the  forces  applied  to  charity.  Consolidation  in  business  may 
have  its  perils,  but  it  is  essential  to  effectiveness  in  modern  life.  It  is 
equally    true  in  charity.      Scattered    and  unrelated  charities  run    two 


vsK  THE    PROBLEM    OF    CHARITY.  XXVU 

leaving  many  cases  uncared  for  at  all.      The  unworthy  are  tempted   to 
risks,;r-^'the  risk  of  duplicating   many   cases  of  relief,  and   the   risk  of 
deceive,  and  the  worthy  find  themselves  often  beyond  the  technical  pur- 
poses^of  these  special   institutions.      A  complete  understanding  among 
all   wjj^rare   concerned   in   charity   is  essential   both   to  justice  and   to 
mercy.      And  this  business  aspect  of  charity  has  its  importance  for  the 
givers  as  well  as  for  the  receivers.      Scattered  and  disconnected  organi- 
zatipns-are  enormously  extravagant.      There  is  more  than  one  institution 
to-day    in  most  of  our  large  cities  calling  itself  a  charity,  where  at  least 
half  of  the  total   income  goes  to  support  the  person  who  collects  the 
funds.     The  institution,  that  is  to  say,  practically  exists  to  give  the  col- 
lector a  living,  and  the  collector,  pleading  at  your  door  for  such  a  cause, 
weakens  the  plea  which  you  ought  to  answer  in  another.      Still  further, 
this  very  multiplicity  of  demands  makes  many  persons  shrink  altogether 
from  their  duty.      They  are  never  safe  from  these  irregular  appeals,  their 
giving  becomes  unsystematic  and  spasmodic,  and  finally  they  begin  to 
harden    their  heart  toward  the  whole   subject.      It  is  interesting,  there- 
fore,  to   inquire  whether  even    without    consolidation  there  cannot  be 
some  "pooling  of  issues"   in  such  affairs,  and  some  degree  of  unity  at- 
tained.    The  most  important  experiment  of  this  kind  has  been  tried  for 
some  years  past  in  the  city  of  Liverpool,  and  I  trust  that  in  some  one  of 
your  sections  attention  will  be  called  to  this  Liverpool  system  of  collec- 
tion.     In  the  year   1873,  as  many  of  you,  no  doubt,  are  aware,   the 
charity  experts  of  that  city  noticed  the  accidental  and  unsystematic  way 
in  which  relief  was  administered,  and  the  subscription  lists  of  38  of  the 
principal  institutions  and  agencies  were  overhauled  with  the  following 
surprising  results.      Out  of  a  total  number  of  persons  in  that  city  esti- 
mated at  twenty  thousand,  who  were  believed  to  be  able  to  contribute 
to  charity,  only  6,600  had  subscribed  to  these  38  principal  methods  of 
help.      The  total  number  of  subscriptions  given  under  these  6,600  names 
was  19,000,  or  an  average  of  three  subscriptions  by  each  giver.     But, 
again,  of  the  6,600  names,  more  than  50  per  cent,  appeared  but  once, 
and  16  per  cent,  but  twice.      The  bulk  of  the  giving,  that  is  to  say,  was 
done  by  about  one-third  of  the  givers.      Indeed,  out  of  the  19,000  sub- 
scriptions, more  than  10,000  were  made  by  about  i, 000  persons.      Halfthe 
habitual  giving,  in  other  words,  to  the  charities  of  Liverpool  was  done 
by  these  1,000  persons,  the  same  names  re-appearing  on  a  great  number 
of  the  lists.      On  the  basis  of  these  facts,  a  sim])le  business  method  was 


XXVIU   INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

proposed.     The  various  charities  were  not  united  in  administration,  but 
they  were  induced  to  present  their  claims  through  one  ofifice  and  on  one 
sheet.     At  the  beginning  of  each  year  a  list  of  charities,  now  amounting 
to  ninety-eight,  and  guaranteed  by  a  central  committee  as  worthy  of 
help,  is  distributed  to  some  15,000  citizens,  and  on  this  sheet  each  sub- 
scriber sets  down  and  divides  at  his  discretion  his  charity  subscription 
for  the  year.     From  those  who  are  well-disposed  but  unacquainted  with 
any  special  form  of  charity,  a  general  subscription  is  asked,   to  be  dis- 
tributed at  the  discretion  of  the  central  committee.      Such  a  plan  is,  at 
any  rate,  economical,  for  it  dispenses  with  a  large  number  of  collectors; 
and  it  is  trustworthy,  for  it  eliminates  unworthy  institutions.      But  should 
we  expect  it  to  increase  the  total  giving?     Would  most  people  give 
more  by  sitting  down  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  and  counting  the 
cost,   or  by  careless  yielding  to  repeated  demands?     I   think  we  might 
at  first  suppose  that  more  could  be  got  by  repeated  appeals  and  by  good- 
natured,  unsystematic   giving.     But  such    is  not    the    teaching  of  the 
Liverpool  scheme.     The  more  business-like  charity  has  been  made,  the 
more  the  public  has  been  willing  to  invest  in  it.      In    1877,   the  Liver- 
pool Society    received  ^4,641   for    18  charities;   in    1892,   it  received 
^25,899  for  98  charities.      I  commend  this  business  system  to  any  large 
city.     The  charities  of  Boston  are  at  this  moment  practically  supported 
by  a  small  fraction  of  those  who  are  able  to  help  them,  and  who,  under 
judicious  method,  would  be  willing  to  help.     In  the  case  of  any  one  of 
our  more  general  societies,  half  the  list  of  annual  subscribers,  and  among 
them  the  largest  givers,   could  probably  be  named  with  tolerable  cer- 
tainty without  consulting  the  report.      What  vve   need  is  that  broader 
constituency  which,  rightly  approached,  would  be  glad  to  do  its  share, 
but  which  demands  a  business  method  guaranteeing  a  reasonable  invest- 
ment. 

I  shall  name  but  one  other  rule  of  good  business  method  in  charity, 
which  follows  directly  from  the  knowledge  of  the  facts  involved  and 
from  the  union  of  the  forces  engaged.  It  is,  of  course,  the  thorough- 
ness of  system  pursued.  On  this  subject,  as  on  many  others,  the  Ger- 
mans, who  are  the  system-makers  of  the  world,  have  the  great  lesson  to 
teach.  The  charity  of  a  German  town  is  a  much  more  limited  under- 
taking than  with  us,  with  much  less  pretentious  institutions  and  much 
less  extravagance;  it  is  often  perhaps  too  plodding,  cautious  and 
conservative    in   procedure,  but  it  has  at   least    the   one   distinguishing 


^  THE    PROBLEM    OF    CHARITY.  XXIX 

trait   of  thoroughness.      I  do  not  now  enter  into  the  discussion  of  the 
space-system  of  relief  as  usually  employed  in  Germany,  compared  with  the 
case-system,  as  customary   with  us.      Indeed,  I  do  not  see  why  the  ad- 
vantages^f  both  may  not  be  welcomed.     In  some  German  cities,  the 
public  miyiicipal  relief  is  by  space,  each  visitor  covering  like  a  sentinel 
his  own  little  beat;  while  the  voluntary  and  private  charity  is  by  case, 
with   the  adaptation  and  friendly  interest  a  case-system  permits.      But 
what,  much  more  than  its  system,  concerns  one  in  the  German  plan  is 
the  enlistment  of  enough  competent  people  to  make  either  system  effec- 
tive.     Municipal  charity  with  us  scarcely  pretends  to  use  thorough  and 
personal  scrutiny,    and   even  our  associated  charities  system,   with   its 
adaptation  of  the  Elberfeld  model,  has  to  depend  on  voluntary  offers  of 
assistance  and  is  rarely  equipped  with  an  adequate  supply  of  competent 
visitors.      Germany,  on  the  other  hand,  enlists  each  year  by  actual  draft 
and    selection  an  army  of  its  most  responsible  citizens,  and  commits  to 
them   the  oversight  of  the  poor  as  a  part  of  their  good  citizenship.      A 
citizen    of  a    German    town    serves    his    term   in  the   friendly  army  of 
poor  relief  just  as   he   serves  his   term    in    the    army    of  national  de- 
fense.    This  is  what  ensures  a  thorough  business-like  system.     Conserva- 
tive, plodding,  over-official,  may  be  German  ways  in  charity,  as  in  most 
other  things;  but  they  have  at  least  the  virtue  of  thoroughness.      There 
is  complete  centralization  of  direction,  and  complete  individualization 
of  relief.      I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  desiring  to  see  such  a  plan 
of  compulsory  charity  service  accepted  as  yet  in  our  very  large  cities. 
Where  cities  are  already  grossly  misgoverned  and  over-governed,  I  do 
not   propose    to   favor  an  extension  of  the  power  of  appointment.      But 
there  are,  on  the  other  hand,  scores  of  towns  in  this  country,  of  mode- 
rate size  and  of  reasonably  good  local  government,  where  a  thorough 
system   of  visitation  might  be  successfully  maintained.     It    should  be 
made  a  part  of  one's  citizenship  to  be  ready  for  a  summons  to  serve 
one's  town.     We  have  long  accepted  the  principle  in  the  case  of  jury- 
service.     Why  should  not  the  prosperous  be  trained  to  this  other  and 
much  more  fundamental  function  of  i)ublir  duty?     It  would  be  a  bless- 
ing to  many  an  empty — and  to  many  an  overcrowded  life — to  be  thus 
called  away  from  its  own  interest  to  this  public  and  generous  work;  and 
it  would  be  a  fortunate  town  which,  before  its   growth   became   unman- 
ageable, should  educate  its  rich  citizens  to  do  something  for  the  needy, 
and  its  needy  citizens  to  do   something   for   themselves.     Such  a   town 


XXX        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

would  be  free  from  many  of  the  abuses  and  burdens  of  institutional  charity. 
It  would  be  a  good  town  for  the  thrifty  poor  to  live  in,  and  a  town 
which  the  undeserving  would  avoid.  It  would  be  a  town  in  which  pros- 
perity brought  with  it  responsibility  for  others,  end  poverty  was  sure  of  a 
chance  of  self-help.  It  would  be  a  place  in  which  Christian  preachers 
could  with  better  hearts  select  such  texts  as:  "Bear  ye  one  another's 
burdens,"  and  "No  man  liveth  to  himself," — a  town  over  whose  gates 
might  be  written:  "The  rich  and  poor  meet  together.  The  Lord  is  the 
Maker  of  them  all." 

I  have  dwelt  long  enough  on  the  rules  of  conduct  in  charity  which 
issue  from  its  first  principle,  —  the  method  of  business,  and  now  I  have 
but  a  few  moments  in  which,  finally,  to  indicate  the  chief  rules  of  con- 
duct which  issue  from  the  other  principle, — the  principle  of  the  moral 
motive.  Here  I  turn  from  all  these  questions  of  method,  and  think  of 
charity  at  its  source,  as  an  expression  of  the  personal  and  moral  life. 
The  individual  life  finds  itself  incomplete  until  it  passes  over  into  union 
with  the  common  life.  That  is  the  ethical  statement  of  charity. 
Freedom  finds  its  fulfillment  in  service.  That  is  the  motive  of  charity, 
and  without  such  a  motive  charity  becomes  simply  dead  officialism  and 
machinery.  Misguided  sentiment  may  pervert  charity,  but  lack  of 
sentiment  kills  charity.  And  into  what  rule  of  conduct  does  this  fact 
open?  Plainly  into  this, — that  there  is  no  charity  which  is  not  personal. 
You  cannot  be  charitable  by  machinery.  You  cannot  give  in  charity 
unless  you  give  yourself.  I  do  not  mean  that  giving  in  money  is  never 
charity.  Money  may  be  the  best  expression  you  can  offer  of  the  self- 
sacrifice  and  sympathy  which  charity  represents.  But  it  is  not  charity 
because  it  is  money;  it  is  charity  because  it  is  money  given  with  per- 
sonal thought  and  discretion  and  feeling.  Money  given  on  other  terms 
is  not  charity.  It  is  sometimes  self-display;  it  is  sometimes  self-decep- 
tion, calling  itself  charity;  it  is  sometimes  a  ransom  for  being  let  alone. 
Charity  means  that  a  person  takes  his  own  place  by  money  or  by  work 
in  the  social  organism  of  poverty;  and  no  one  else  can  take  the  place 
which  belongs  to  you.  It  is  a  campaign  in  which  you  cannot  buy  a 
substitute.  That  is  the  first  rule  of  conduct  which  this  side  of  the 
problem  dictates.      The  call   of  charity  is  a  personal  call. 

And  now,  given  this  personal  relation  of  life  with  life,  how  does  it 
affect  the  conduct  of  each  person  involved?  It  operates  in  what  is  really 
a  most  curious  manner,  bringing  to  the    two   lives   concerned    precisely 


^  THE  PROBLEM  OF  CHARITY.  XXXI 

opposite  effects.  Its  first  effect  on  the  receiver  of  charity  may  be  de- 
scribed.-as  the  education  of  wants,  and  its  first  effect  on  the  giver  of 
charity  as  the  simplification  of  wants.  The  two  are  easy  to  distinguish. 
What,  ^1  the  one  hand,  is  the  first  thing  which  you  can  do  for  the  poor, 
when  you  put  away  charity  as  a  matter  of  money  and  think  of  it  as  a 
matter  of  personal  relationship?  The  first  thing  you  can  do  is  to  start  a 
new  ambition.  The  first  obstruction  to  your  help  is  the  fearful  absence 
of  wants  which  is  so  often  found  among  the  poor — what  Lasalle  called 
the  "verdammte  Bedurfnisslosigkeit" — the  cursed  habit  of  not  wanting 
anything.  The  saddest  feature  of  many  degraded  lives  is  their  content. 
They  do  not  care  to  be  clean;  they  do  not  miss  fresh  air;  they  do  not 
crave  good  food;  and  the  first  gift  which  the  charity  visitor  can  bring 
them  is  the  gift  of  a  new  want.  This  good  angel  sweeps  the  room,  or 
washes  the  child's  face,  or  cooks  the  dinner;  and  at  the  next  visit  the 
mother  has  done  these  things  herself,  and  the  first  step  toward  self-help  is 
taken.  But  now  turn  the  same  story  round  and  consider  the  giver's 
life.  To  him  or  to  her  there  comes  the  opposite  and  no  less  blessed 
gift, — the  simplification  of  wants.  In  the  presence  of  poverty  and  human 
need  other  ambitions  drop  away.  Self-indulgence  and  social  folly  grow 
simply  uninviting.  Life  is  simplified  of  its  complexity.  One  is  de- 
livered from  the  absorbing  problems  which  centre  about  one's  self  by 
this  natural  interest  in  others.  The  quality  of  mercy  blesses  those  who 
give  as  well  as  those  who  take.  Here  are  the  two  opposite  gifts,  a  new 
ambition  and  a  new  simplicity,  the  multiplication  of  wants  and  the 
simplifying  of  them.  I  suppose  that  people  must  often  wonder  at  the 
pleasure  which  others  seem  to  find,  or  the  peace  of  mind  which  they 
themselves  discover  in  works  of  charity.  Looked  at  as  a  practical  un- 
dertaking, charity  is  often  very  dull  and  sometimes  very  disheartening. 
The  poor  are,  as  a  rule,  not  very  picturesque  or  very  noble;  they  are 
often  stupid  and  often  unresponsive.  Whence  then  comes  the  jjeculiar  in- 
terest of  such  endeavor?  Much  of  it  comes,  no  doubt,  from  this  simpli- 
fying of  one's  own  wants,  and  much  comes,  on  the  other  hand,  from 
contributing  to  others  a  new  ideal.  It  is  a  great  joy  to  be  delivered 
from  one's  self,  to  be  freed  both  from  idleness  and  from  meagreness  of 
life,  to  pass  from  the  complexity  of  modern  civilization  to  the  simplicity 
of  unambitious  service.  That  is  one  source  of  great  happiness.  It  is 
another  great  joy  to  find  that  you  have  the  power  tt)  communicate  a 
motive,  that  even  so  ineffective  a  life  as  you  had  supposed  your  own   to 


XXXll     INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

be  can  do  a  better  thing  for  another  life  than  any  money-help  can  do  for 
it, — the  imparting  of  a  new  ambition,  the  miracle  of  calling  another 
soul  to  life,  the  joy  of  helping  another  human  being  not  to  lie  down  in 
mendicancy,  but  to  rise  up  into  self-help.  It  is  with  such  charity  to- 
day as  it  was  with  Peter  and  John  at  the  beautiful  gate  of  the  temple 
where  the  lame  man  lay — as  the  passage  says — to  receive  an  alms.  And 
Peter  fastened  his  eyes  on  him  and  he  gave  heed,  ''expecting  to  receive 
something."  But  Peter  said,  "Silver  and  gold  have  1  none,  but  what 
I  have  that  give  I  thee.  In  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth,  rise 
up  and  walk." 


^ 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF  THE 


Si>:th    Section 


OF   THE 


INTERNATIONAL     CONGRESS 


OF 


CHARITIES,   CORRECTION.   AND  PHILANTHROPY, 
CHARITY    OROANIZATION. 


PROCEEDINGS 


<^ntcx-nattc«Jirtl  QTottnx'ess  of  (•Thartttea,  ®ori*ecttc»n  atxh 

^Tittlrttxthfopa. 


SIXTH   SECTION. 


FIRST   SESSION,   June    12,   1893.— 2  P.  M. 


The  sixth  Section  of  this  Congress  assembled  at  2  o'clock  P.  M.  The 
chair  was  taken  at  the  request  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  by 
Robert  Weeks  De  Fores r,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  President  of  the 
Charity  Organization  Society  in  that  city.  The  Secretary  was  Professor 
R.  Mayo-Smith,  of  Columbia  College,  New  York. 

The  Chairman,  in  calling  the  meeting  to  order,  spoke  as  follows  : 

This  is  purely  a  business  meeting,  and  when  I  say  business  meeting  I 
mean  that  we  meet  here,  not  simply  for  the  purpose  of  talking,  but  in 
order,  if  possible,  to  get  at  some  results.  As  most  of  you  know,  we 
unfortunately  have  not  the  pleasure  of  the  presence  of  the  presiding 
officer  of  this  particular  section,  President  Oilman  of  the  Johns  Hop- 
kins University.  He  is  unable  to  be  present  here  by  reason  of  the 
closing  exercises  of  his  university,  and  it  therefore  devolves  u[)on  me 
to  preside. 

In  the  first  place,  I  would  suggest  that  the  Secretary  read  a  letter 
which  President  Oilman,  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments, has  addressed  to  the  members  of  the  Congress.  This  is  properly 
the  first  act  in  the  proceedings  of  what  I  will  call  for  short  the  Charity 
Organization  Section  of  this  Congress. 

The  Secretary  thereupon  read  a  letter  from  President  Oilman,  dated 
Baltimore,  Md.,  June  6,  1893,  rehearsing  the  various  steps  that  had 
been  taken  in  making  the  arrangements  for  this  section  of  the  Congress, 
and  in  securing  appropriate  papers. 

The  Chairman. — That  is  the  keynote  to  the  plans  of  this  particular 
.section  of  this  Congress.  We  aim,  as  you  see  by  this  letter,  not  sim- 
ply to  have  a  number  of  papers  read  here,  amid  all  the  distractions 
that  must  necessarily  attend  a  meeting  of  this   kind,  and   with  all  the 


4  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

Other  papers  that  are  being  read  on  so  many  different  topics  at  the 
same  time  in  the  other  sections  of  this  Congress.  We  aim  to  print  a 
volume,  or  vohimes,  which  shall  contain  whatever  there  may  be  of  per- 
manent,value  in  the  papers  presented  to  us.  This  Congress,  as  perhaps 
it  is  wise  to  remind  ourselves,  is  an  international  one,  and  the  front 
seat  naturally  belongs  to  those  of  our  foreign  friends  who  are  present. 
Now,  unfortunately,  our  foreign  friends  are  very  few  in  this  meeting, 
and  that  is  the  reason  why  the  majority  of  those  who  speak  at  our 
sessions  will  be  Americans.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  must  not  be 
supposed  that  because  our  foreign  friends  are  not  here  in  person  they 
have  not  a  deep  interest  in  this  Congress,  and  in  this  particular  sec- 
tion of  it.  We  have  a  large  number  of  papers  from  different  foreign 
countries,  from  gentlemen  of  the  highest  standing  and  reputation  ;  and 
those  papers  we  propose  to  present  in  the  printed  volume. 

We  have  for  this  particular  sectional  meeting  the  following  foreign 
papers  ;  a  paper  on  Charity  Organization  in  Germany,  by  Professor 
Victor  Bohmert,  of  Dresden  ;  on  Compulsory  Organization  of  Cliarities 
in  Italy,  by  Dr.  Egisto  Rossi,  of  Rome  ;  on  Scientific  Charities  in  Ger- 
many, by  Baron  von  Reitzenstein,  of  Freiburg  ;  on  Relief  of  the  Poor 
in  Russia,  by  Professor  H.  Georgievsky,  of  St.  Petersburg  ;  on  Charity 
Organization  in  Relation  to  Voluntary  Effort,  by  Rev.  Brooke  Lambeth, 
Vicar  of  Greenwich,  England;  and  additional  papers  are  promised. 
We  have  also  a  number  of  important  communications  from  our  own 
countrymen. 

The  first  subject  of  our  meeting  is  "  The  Demarcation  of  the  Field 
of  Voluntary  Charitable  Work."  It  is  a  pretty  broad  subject,  and  is 
intended  to  bring  out  a  free  discussion  as  to  the  proper  scope  of  volun- 
tary and  governmental  effort  in  charities  in  general,  and,  it  may  be,  of 
the  proper  scope  of  charity  organization  societies  in  particular.  The 
first  paper  will  be  from  Levi  L.  Barbour,  Esq.,  of  Detroit,  Mich. 

The  Chairman  then  introduced  Mr.  Barbour,  who  read  his  memoir 
on  the  subject  above  named. 

After  the  conclusion  of  this  paper  a  discussion  followed,  introduced 
by  the  presiding  officer,  Mr.  De  Forest. 

The  Chairman. — It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  first  American 
paper  brings  out  and  lays  down  what  may  be  called  the  fundamental 
principle  of  American  charity,  namely,  that  our  charities  should  be 
supported  by  the  people  by  voluntary  contributions  and  not  by  the  gov- 
ernment with  public  funds.  That  is  an  important  and  broad  doctrine, 
and  I  do  not  suppose  it  can  be  discussed  as  applicable  to  mankind  in 
general.  I  suppose  it  is  a  question  that  must  be  discussed  in  relation  to  a 
particular  country.  Not  long  since  I  had  the  pleasure  of  showing  a  friend 
around  our  New  York  institutions,  and  I  took  him  to  see  a  hospital. 
He  said  :  "Is  this  private?"  '<Yes,  this  is  private."  He  seemed  to 
be  somewhat  surprised.     Then  we  went  to  an  orphan  asylum.     That 


^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION. 


was  private  too.  And  so  pretty  much  all  the  charitable  institutions  of 
thej_ity  were  found  to  be  private.  He  was  very  much  amazed.  It  was 
a  "situation  of  affairs  for  which  he  was  not  at  all  prepared,  and  so  abso- 
lutely different  from  that  of  similar  institutions  in  his  own  country, 
thefThe  could  hardly  realize  it.  So  I  am  glad  to  have  one  of  the  key- 
notes of  this  discussion  struck  at  such  an  early  stage. 

Now,  the  more  this  is  a  conversational  meeting,  the  better.  We  have 
not,  as  I  said,  a  definite  program.  We  may  read  more  papers,  and  we 
may  read  fewer  papers.  So  far  as  the  speeches  are  concerned,  1  pro- 
--pose,  with  your  approval,  to  strictly  enforce  the  ten-minute  rule,  and 
to  reserve  the  right  on  the  part  of  the  Congress  to  make  that  ten 
minutes  five. 

If  Dr.  Warner  will  favor  us,  we  shall  be  glad  to  hear  from  him  on 
this  particular  topic. 

Professor  A.  G.  Warner,  lately  of  Washington,  D.  C,  and  now  of 
the  Leland  Stanford,  Jr.  University  in  California,  was  then  introduced  to 
the  Congress  by  the  chairman.      Professor  Warner  said  : 

I  agree  with  the  suggestion  of  the  chairman  that  no  particular  prin- 
ciples can  be  laid  down  for  the  guidance  of  all  countries  in  the  matter 
under  discussion.  The  experiment  of  substituting  church  relief  for 
public  relief  at  Glasgow  showed  what  could  be  done  under  the  man- 
agement of  a  man  like  Thomas  Chalmers.  When  the  attempt  was 
made  to  substitute  public  relief  for  church  relief  at  Elberfeld,  it  was 
shown  that  that  was  the  very  system  for  a  city  in  Germany  at  that  par- 
ticular time,  the  system  of  public  relief  there  working  much  better  than 
that  organized  and  administered  by  the  churches.  In  fact,  the  church 
relief  system  had  broken  down  when  the  Elberfeld  system  was  intro- 
duced and  developed  to  its  present  conditioh.  In  Italy,  also,  private 
charities  have  recently  been  secularized.  The  great  endowments  for 
the  care  of  the  poor  in  Italy  have  been  so  badly  administered  that  they 
have  been  secularized  by  the  Italian  government,  and  from  private  ad- 
ministration they  have  changed  to  public  administration. 

We  find,  looking  at  the  matter  historically,  that,  as  a  rule,  churches 
and  private  associations  have  been  the  experimenters.  It  has  been 
through  the  church  or  through  private  enterprise  that  new  ideas  in 
charity  have  been  developed,  and  the  community  has  been  educated 
up  to  a  position  where  it  insists  upon  having  large  work  steadily  done. 
In  the  work  of  Bourbonnais  on  the  charities  of  France  he  shows  that 
almost  all  of  them  originated  under  church  influence,  and  were,  for  a 
long  time,  administered  by  church  officials,  and  then  he  exclaims 
against  the  ])resent  system  where  the  bureaus  admmister  even  a  very 
large  share  of  the  endowments  left  by  private  persons.  He  thinks  that 
the  transfer  to  the  state  of  the  function  formerly  discharged  by  the 
church  is  a  usurpation,  and  that  the  power  of  administration  should  be 
restored  to  the  church.    These  charities  were  instituted  especially  by  the 


6  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

church,  or  by  private  associations  under  church  influence.  And  yet  it 
may  be  that  the  author  is  not  right  in  saying — after  it  had  been  shown 
that  a  large  block  of  charitable  work  must  be  done,  and  after  the  methods 
of  doing  it  have  been  reduced  to  a  routine — that  it  should  then  be  left 
to  private  associations  or  enterprises. 

Look  at  this  country.  What  used  to  be  considered  the  education  of 
the  deaf  and  dumb,  the  education  of  the  blind,  and  farther  back,  per- 
haps, the  care  of  the  insane  also — all  these  were  first  done  by  private 
enterprise. 

It  was  through  the  influence  of  these  private  enterprises  that  the  com- 
munity was  educated  up  to  the  point  where  it  insisted  upon  having 
these  blocks  of  charity  done;  but  that  point  being  reached,  a  steadier 
income,  a  firmer  administrative  grasp,  and  a  more  general  and  syste- 
matic arrangement  of  the  work  were  necessarily  called  for.  Hence  the 
control  passed  from  the  hands  of  the  private  inventors  of  the  new  char- 
ties  to  the  hands  of  the  State.  At  the  present  time,  where  the  hospitals 
become  very  large,  where  the  orphan  asylums  become  very  large,  (as 
they  have  in  the  places  of  which  mention  has  been  made),  it  has  been 
found  that  while  the  management  remains  in  private  hands,  the  money 
frequently  comes  from  the  public  coffers,  and  the  constant  tendency  is 
to  transfer  the  work  to  the  public  management.  For  instance,  the  ad- 
ministration of  outdoor  relief  in  European  countries  is  found  to  be  well 
done  by  the  local  communities  under  a  system  by  which  a  large  number 
of  unpaid  officers  are  brought  into  the  work.  In  this  country  it  is 
found  that  we  cannot  administer  outdoor  relief  in  such  a  manner  with- 
out the  degradation  of  the  poor  and  the  corruption  of  local  politics.  It 
is  a  question,  thfn,  of  administrative  or  governmental  skill  on  one  side, 
and  on  the  other  of  the  possibility  of  collecting  from  individuals  the 
money  necessary  to  support  large  charities,  when  they  have  developed 
to  such  an  extent  that  it  requires  a  large  and  constant  revenue  to  main- 
tain them.  The  function  of  private  enterprise  in  charitable  work  will, 
as  it  seems  to  me,  remain  this:  if  the  state  is  large  and  opulent,  it  can 
do  something  after  you  say  it  must  and  show  it  how;  but  it  is  not  inven- 
tive, it  is  not  progressive,  and  it  is  to  private  enterprise  that  we  must 
look  for  the  doing  of  new  work.  The  public  and  private  officers  of 
charitable  institutions  react  upon  one  another  through  mutual  supervi- 
sion. In  America  public  officials  very  seldom  supervise  private  chari- 
ties, and  yet  I  think  it  is  a  plan  we  shall  have  to  come  to,  (as  the  Euro- 
pean countries  have),  when  the  incomes  are  very  large,  llie  possibili- 
ties of  abuse  are  so  great,  that  public  officials  will  have  to  supervise  pri- 
vate work,  and  then,  returning  that  compliment,  private  enterprises 
like  the  state  charitable  organizations  of  the  country  can  return  the 
debt  by  supervising  the  public  institutions  and  seeing  that  they  are 
wisely  administered. 

The  Chairman. — We  should  all  like  to  hear  a  few  words  from  Pro- 
fessor Henderson  of  the  University  of  Chicago. 


/T  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  7 

Professor  Charles  R.  Henderson  was  then  introduced  to  the  Con- 
gress^ and  he  said: 

I  should  like  to  emph.isize  (though  it  would  be  impossible  to  give 
add<?d  emphasis  to  it)  the  forcible  presentation  of  a  thought  contained 
in_aiSe'rmon  delivered  yesterday  by  Dr.  Gladden.  The  whole  problem 
oicharity  organization  is  to  bring  together  the  person  who  can  help 
and  the  person  who  needs  help.  Mr.  Rosenau,  in  a  paper  read  at  the 
University,  at  one  of  the  dinners  of  our  Associated  Science  Clubs,  gave 
--a^  chart  in  which  he  represented  all  those  who  needed  help,  all  those 
who  come  before  the  charitable  organizations,  and  then  finally  those 
who  were  not  remanded  to  permanent  institutional  help,  but  were 
brought  into  individual  contact  with  some  benevolent  person.  I  should 
like  to  see  this  chart  printed  and  published  because  of  its  suggestiveness. 
If  this  principle  of  individual  helpfulness  were  carried  out  it  would 
modify,  though  it  would  not  necessarily  abolish,  in  this  country  offi- 
cial outdoor  relief.  Anyone  can  see  that  the  present  system  is  as  far  as 
possible  from  that  enunciated  by  Dr.  Gladden  yesterday.  Let  any  of 
you  go  to  the  offices  of  the  county  or  township  trustees  and  notice  that 
long,  mournful  row  of  paupers  coming  for  relief,  and  you  will  see  that, 
though  they  are  very  near  the  embrace,  they  are  really  as  distant  as 
the  sky.  Never  touched,  spoken  to,  or  befriended  by  word  or  look, 
but  in  the  coldest  possible  official  way  thrust  apart  from  those  who 
would  be  glad  to  do  all  they  could,  and  who  could  easily  be  led  to  do 
them  good.  But  this  is  not  only  true  of  official  outdoor  relief.  It  is 
also  true  of  our  church  charities,  which  are  almost  as  much  open  to  this 
objection  as  the  official  outdoor  relief. 

Churches,  on  the  whole,  are  doing  very  little  in  the  way  of  giving 
money  in  this  country.  Most  of  the  relief  of  the  pauper  class  comes 
through  the  officials.  Of  course  many  localities  may  be  named  as  ex- 
ceptions, but  1  think  this  is  the  general  rule. 

We  have  waited  fifteen  years  for  a  promised  book  by  Herbert  Spen- 
cer, and  now  that  it  has  arrived  it  is  simply  "a  small  mouse"  indeed. 
Perhaps  I  have  not  comprehended  him;  but  if  I  understand  him  in  his 
book  on  Positive  Benevolence,  it  is  about  the  most  negative  thing  I  ever 
read.  He  says  the  only  thing  that  we  are  obliged  to  do  by  the  law  or 
by  duty,  is  to  hel])  some  one  who  may  come  across  our  path  and  be  in 
need.  The  ])e()ple,  for  instance,  in  the  West  End  of  London  are  the 
people  who  are  able  to  helj)  the  ))Oor.  The  people  in  the  East  End  are 
those  who  most  need  assistance.  The  i)eople  of  the  West  End  could 
say:  "I  never  meet  these  people  and  it  is  no  part  of  my  duty  to  go 
and  find  them."  So  there  are  a  great  many  people  who  would  be  ne- 
glected. But  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  under  the  system  of  al)solute 
individual  help  a  great  many  peo])le  would  give  indiscriminately. 

The  desire  to  do  good,  to  help  the  unfortunate,  to  assist  the  hungry, 
is  a  real  social  force,  something  that  can  be  counted  on,  and  people  are 


8  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

going  to  give — if  not  wisely,  they  are  going  to  give  nevertheless — for 
the  hunger  of  the  world  is  too  deep  to  be  assuaged  by  anyone.  There 
remain  one  or  two  methods  in  the  immediate  future.  One  is  the  Elber- 
feld  method  and  the  other  the  association  of  charities.  I  understand 
that  the  latter  method  is  before  us  this  afternoon.  The  Elberfeld 
method  may  at  some  time  be  applicable  to  our  conditions.  It  certainly 
is  not  in  the  immediate  present;  but  I  think  the  societies  already  organ- 
ized according  to  this  method  are  showing  that  it  is  possible  to  pass  the 
bounds  which  now  limit  us.  Now  in  Chicago,  Buffalo,  Detroit — in 
nearly  all  the  large  cities,  in  fact — how  many  people  are  aided  ?  A 
great  many  friendly  visits  are  made,  it  is  true,  some  more  successful 
than  others.  But  we  shall  never  reach  the  ideal  until  we  have  given  to 
one  person  as  many  of  the  poor  as  he  can  befriend  in  the  best  sense  of 
the  word — following  up  the  work  carefully,  watching  month  after 
month,  and  year  after  year,  until  out  of  hopelessness  and  wretchedness 
have  come  prosperity  and  happiness.  It  is  a  long,  weary  road.  We 
must  remember  that  for  centuries  these  people  have  been  going  down 
and  the  weight  of  centuries  of  heredity  is  upon  their  shoulders.  We 
cannot  befriend  them  by  simply  flinging  a  gift  to  them  in  passing.  We 
must  do  the  best  we  can,  until,  perhaps,  a  wider  outlook  may  open  in 
the  years  to  come  and  the  government  be  induced  to  use  its  instrumen- 
talities to  assist  in  the  work. 

The  Chairman. — Following  in  the  line  of  Dr.  Warner's  address  we 
are  interested  in  noting  historically  the  development  of  methods  in 
charitable  work.  In  the  medieval  period  nearly  all  charities  were 
church  charities.  But  a  change  has  taken  place  in  almost  all  European 
countries,  where  now  almost  all  charities  have  become  state  charities. 
Even  in  England  a  large  part  of  the  charitable  relief  is  given  through  the 
government,  by  taxation.  Now  we  Americans  ought  to  stand  in  the  fore- 
front of  what  may  be  called  the  modern  tendency.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  that  in  our  own  country,  at  the  present  time,  the  strongest  charities, 
those  that  have  (if  I  may  use  the  words)  the  greatest  life,  are  those 
which  are  not  connected  with  the  government  or  with  the  church.  I 
do  not  mean  that  those  who  take  part  in  our  charities  are  not  religious 
people  or  church  members.  On  the  contrary,  most  of  them  are  mem- 
bers of  the  various  churches;  and  I  do  not  think  it  is  arrogating  too 
much  to  ourselves  to  say  that  the  most  active,  aggressive  persons  in  the 
charitable  societies  at  the  present  time  are  members  of  the  churches. 
But  the  movement  is,  nevertheless,  strictly  undenominational. 

The  gentleman  who  will  next  address  you  on  this  subject  is  Dr.  J.  W. 
Walk,  of  Philadelphia. 

Dr.  J.  W.  Walk,  Secretary  of  the  Society  for  Organizing  Charity 
of  Philadelphia,  was  then  introduced  to  the  congress  by  the  chairman. 
Dr.    Walk  said  : 


-^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  9 

As  an  old  member  of  the  Conference,  with  which  I  have  been  con- 
nected for  eleven  years,  I  desire  to  ask  your  indulgence  if  I  should  trans- 
gress for  a  minute  or  two  the  length  of  time  allotted  me,  for  this  reason. 
It  will  be  of  no  value  if  I  give  you  propositions  without  the  arguments 
by/<vhich  they  are  supported;  but  I  fear  I  cannot  do  that  in  the  brief 
timfat  my  disposal.  It  is  of  the  very  first  importance  that  we  should 
have  clear  ideas  of  the  matter  in  hand  before  we  begin  to  work.  Much 
of  our  work  is  worthless,  because  we  go  off  with  the  idea  in  a  hurry, 
without  due  consideration. 

"~^ow,  there  is  a  classification,  to  which  I  wish  to  call  attention  at  the 
start,  of  the  whole  field  of  effort  for  the  dependent  portion  of  the  popu- 
lation. It  is  being  adopted  by  many  different  societies.  By  this  classifi- 
cation the  dependent  poor  are  divided  into  delinquents,  defectives,  and 
destitutes.  Now,  what  is  the  demarcation  between  charity  and  official 
care?  What  is  the  demarcation  between  charity  and  the  control  of 
these  three  classes? 

First,  as  to  the  criminal,  the  vicious,  and  the  insubordinate.  Ifgovern- 
ment  means  anything,  it  means  protection  from  crime.  As  John  Stuart 
Mill  said:  "Civil  government  exists  to  resist  force  and  to  prevent 
fraud."  Governments  were  first  instituted  to  resist  encroachment  from 
the  outside.  When  they  are  not  in  danger  from  this  source,  they  must 
resist  encroachment  from  enemies  on  the  inside.  So  it  seems  to  me 
that  the  government  should  take  care  of  its  criminals  and  insubordi- 
nates,  the  latter  being  delinquent  children.  I  do  not  think  any  one,  by 
private  means,  should  attempt  to  set  up  a  house  of  correction,  and  I 
doubt  very  much  the  expediency  of  giving  police  powers  to  private 
societies,  like  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children.  It 
would  be  better  for  the  government  to  do  that  work  as  it  supervises 
murder  and  theft.  It  is  a  risky  thing  to  give  police  powers  to  private 
societies.  There  is  one  possible  exception — that  is  with  regard  to 
delinquent  children.  The  children's  aid  societies  of  Philadelphia 
and  other  cities,  are  trying  now  to  educate  delinquent  children,  who 
were  formerly  placed  in  reformatory  schools,  and  they  endeavor  to 
improve  and  save  them  by  family  influence.  It  is  an  experiment. 
I  wish  it  well.  But  there  are  a  great  many  difficulties  in  dealing  with 
bad  boys  and  girls  in  families;  there  is  danger  of  theirdoing  more  harm 
than  good.  There  is  one  function,  it  seems  to  me,  that  private  charity 
has  in  regard  to  these  penal,  reformatory  institutions — that  is  the 
function  of  voluntary  inspection,  as  pursued  by  the  State  Charities  Aid 
Associations  in  New  York  and  elsewhere. 

Now,  as  to  the  next  class, — the  defectives,  including  the  blind,  the 
deaf-mutes,  the  feeble-minded,  the  epileptics  and  the  inebriates.  As 
far  as  the  care  of  the  blind,  deaf-mutes,  and  feeble-minded  goes,  during 
the  period  of  training  in  childhood  and  youth,  I  think  that  should  be 
taken  out  of  the  field  of  charity  and  placed  among  the  educational 
endeavors  of  the  country.      My  thought   is  that  the  government  should 


lO  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

give  to  every  child  a  fair  public  school  education.  Ordinarily  it  gives 
it  in  the  public  schools;  but  if  the  child  be  blind,  a  deaf-mute,  or  feeble- 
minded, and  is  not  suited  for  instruction  in  the  public  schools,  then  in- 
struction ought  to  be  given  in  schools  suited  for  the  purpose.  When  we 
come  to  the  adults,  many  of  them  become  self-supporting,  and,  after 
proper  training,  are  no  longer  charges  on  the  state.  Then,  as  regards 
those  who  are  not  self-supporting.  The  question  is  whether  the  care  of 
them  should  be  private  or  by  the  state.  When  we  come  to  the  insane, 
again,  I  believe  we  should  have  them  cared'  for  by  the  state  or  the 
county — by  the  government  in  some  form,  because,  after  all,  the  insane 
are  put  inside  the  institutions  more  for  the  good  of  the  community  than 
for  their  own  sake.  We  must  not  forget  this  even  though  no  charge  of 
crime  attaches  to  them.  The  same  general  principles  apply  to  inebriates 
and  epileptics. 

I  come  last  to  the  destitutes,  including  the  aged  poor,  the  infant  poor, 
the  sick  poor  and  the  wounded  poor. 

Here  is  a  great  field  for  organized  charity,  for  church,  individual  and 
society  work.  I  believe  this  is  the  field  to  which  we  should  ultimately 
confine  ourselves,  and  from  which  we  should  ultimately  exclude  the 
government  and  the  state,  for  two  reasons.  First  there  is  the  ethical 
reason,  that  it  is  not,  under  any  proper  theory  of  government,  for  the 
best  interests  of  the  people  to  have  the  state  take  care  of  these  classes. 
Mere  destitution  has  no  claim  on  the  government.  There  is  no  reason 
why  money  should  be  taken  out  of  your  pocket  to  give  to  me,  simply 
because  I  am  destitute.  I  believe  that  is  a  field  for  Christian  sympathy, 
but  not  for  government  aid.  If  the  charitable  effort  of  the  country 
were  concentrated  upon  this  class  of  dependents,  we  could  soon  care 
for  them  all,  and  it  is  in  caring  for  this  class  that  state  aid  is  real  relief 
work.  The  state  can  properly  care  for  the  criminals,  the  vicious,  the 
insubordinate,  and  the  defective,  but  when  the  state  begins  to  care  for 
destitutes,  trouble  begins. 

There  is  one  class  of  the  sick  whom  the  state  should  provide  for — not 
for  their  sake,  but  for  ours.  Those  are  the  sick  with  contagious  diseases. 
In  case  of  cholera,  for  instance,  the  state  may  take  them,  not  for  their 
own  sakes,  but  for  the  safety  of  the  community. 

Outdoor  relief,  where  given  by  the  state,  is  wrong  in  principle  and 
pernicious  in  practice.     It  should  be  abolished. 

I  would  like  to  supplement  the  facts  given  by  Mr.  Smith  of  Bufi"alo, 
last  night,  to  the  extent  of  saying  that  a  comparison  in  Buffalo  of  twelve 
years  with  outdoor  relief,  with  twelve  years  without  outdoor  relief, 
showed  a  saving  of  $700,000,  and,  wonderful  to  relate,  a  saving  also  of 
$400,000  in  indoor  relief.  So  there  was  a  saving  in  twelve  years  of 
over  a  million  dollars.  And  to-day,  in  the  institution  of  which  I  have 
charge,  we  have  fewer  paupers  than  we  had  fifteen  years  ago — almost 
entirely  due  to  the  abolition  of  outdoor  relief.  But  I  hope  for  some- 
thing more.     I  hope  the  day  will   come  when  private  and  associated 


-^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  I  I 

charities,  separate  from  governmental  support,  will  take  up  the  indoor 
relief^rjTiestion.  If  we  would  center  our  efforts  on  this  one  subject,  I 
believe  the  time  would  soon  arrive  when  we  could  substitute  for  mad- 
houses^hospitals,  and  asylums,  institutions  supported  and  maintained 
by  churches,  by  private  societies,  and  by  individuals. 

Th^Chairman  next  introduced  to  the  congress  Miss  ZilphaD.  Smith, 
General  Secretary  of  the  Associated  Charities  of  Boston,  who  said  : 

I  should  like  to  say  a  few  words  on  the  subject  of  churches  and  chari- 
ties^ It  is  more  sad  than  stupid  to  hear  people  connected  with 
churches  say  they  should  start  a  certain  charity  because  others  have  done 
so.  There  is  an  institution  in  Boston  in  whose  prospectus  appears  the 
statement  that  it  was  started  because  the  denomination  under  whose  name 
it  operated  had  not  previously  undertaken  any  large  benevolent  work. 
Of  course  such  a  charity  is  rotten  at  heart.  Fortunately,  all  church 
charities  are  not  of  that  charr.cter.  The  church  that  is  made  up  of  both 
rich  and  poor  finds  its  way  easy.  But  most  of  the  churches  to  which  we 
belong,  I  fancy,  are  of  another  class.  They  are  made  up  of  people  who 
are  able  and  willing  to  take  care  of  themselves.  If  they  want  to  help 
others,  they  must  go  outside  their  church  connection  to  do  it. 

Mr.  A.  W.  Clark  of  Omaha,  was  introduced  to  the  congress,  and 
spoke  as  follows  : 

I  wish  to  say  a  word  in  regard  to  omitting  in  our  work  the  criminal 
classes.  This  is  the  first  time  I  have  heard  such  a  clear  statement  of 
that  view,  and  my  own  experience  is  that  this  would  be  a  great  mistake. 
My  experience  in  the  Rescue  Home  has  led  me  to  believe  that  a  large 
number  of  these  brothers  can  be  rescued,  and  that  the  officials  are  not 
working  in  the  direction  of  saving  them.      During  the  winter 

Dr.  Walk. — I  do  not  want  to  be  understood  as  stating  that  the  func- 
tion of  punishing  criminals  is  a  state  function.  I  did  not  mean  that  a 
man,  after  he  gets  out  of  prison,  should  receive  state  assistance,  but 
that  the  function  of  correcting  his  crime,  putting  him  in  prison  and 
training  him,  is  a  function  of  the  state.  After  he  gets  out  of  prison  we 
ought  to  help  him. 

Mr.  Clark.  —  Well,  perhaps  I  misunderstood.  One  night  I  asked 
two  of  our  detectives  to  examine  those  that  we  had  as  lodgers.  One 
hundred  and  seventy  or  more  were  there  that  night,  and  we  had  fifteen 
known  to  be  criminals.  One  of  them  had  been  for  eight  years  in  the 
Michigan  State  prison.  We  have  succeeded  in  rescuing  a  large  number 
of  those  people  during  the  winter.  A  short  time  kgo  a  man  was  locked 
up.  The  police  were  after  him.  I  said:  -'You  let  me  have  him  for 
forty-eight  hours  and  if  I  can't  control  him  during  that  time  you  can 
take  him."  The  police  consented.  The  man  was  saved  from  going  to 
the  city  jail,  and  now  is  in  a  good  jjosition  in  our  city. 

On  the  point  of  children,  I  do  not  believe  it  is  an  experiment.  In 
Omaha  and  other  ]jlares  it  has  been  shown  that  many  of  these  boys  can 


12  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

be  saved  by  our  means,  by  placing  them  in  homes,  instead  of  leaving 
them  to  the  state. 

Professor  E.  W.  Bemis  of  Vanderbilt  University,  (Tenn.)  was  asked 
to  speak,  and,  being  introduced,  spoke  as  follows  : 

In  this  particular  department  of  work  I  have  made  no  discoveries,  and 
there  is  little  I  can  say.  I  would  rather  your  time  should  be  taken  up 
by  those  who  have  made  original  studies.  I  have  great  interest  in  this 
work.  I  think  the  state  is  doing  a  great  deal  in  preventive  measures; 
but  when  it  comes  to  the  actual  appearance  of  the  evil  in  adult  life,  I 
have  no  doubt  that  private  charity  must  do  it  through  organized  effort. 

Mr.  A.  O.  Crozier  of  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  was  next  introduced, 
and  said  : 

I  presume  I  belong  to  one  of  the  youngest  charity  organizations  in 
the  United  States — an  organization  effected  only  a  few  weeks  ago  at 
Grand  Rapids,  Mich.  I  have  not  been  with  you  a  great  while,  but  I  find 
that  my  old-fashioned  notions  are  very  fast  disappearing;  and  I  fear,  if  I 
sit  here  much  longer,  I  won't  have  any  of  them  to  take  back. 

We  used  to  have  in  Grand  Rapids  (where,  by  the  way,  we  spend 
$35,000  to  $^o,OQO  a  year  for  outdoor  relief  in  a  city  of  less  than 
100,000  inhabitants,)  a  splendid  idea,  that  to  give  money  in  charity  was 
the  end  of  it.  For  years  we  had  a  thanksgiving  demonstration  of  the 
charity  people,  and  we  used  to  advertise  in  the  papers  that  we  would 
practice  charity  upon  all  applicants  on  that  day.  Of  late  years  we 
have  been  very  much  surprised  at  the  number  of  applicants.  We  sup- 
posed there  were  very  many  people  there  who  needed  relief,  and  at  our 
last  Thanksgiving  demonstration  of  charity  the  line  was  half  a  mile  long. 
I  am  a  member  of  the  Gates  Committee  of  the  new  society.  They  have 
been  holding  meetings  in  our  offices,  and  they  have  been  going  through 
the  books.  They  investigated  our  work,  and  on  the  Gates  Committee 
we  are  cutting  off  nearly  50  per  cent.,  and  we  are  fortunate  in  having  a 
Poor  Director  who  listens  to  our  advice.  We  elect  a  Poor  Director  and 
put  him  under  bonds  for  the  conduct  of  his  office.  Then  the  board  of 
aldermen  turn  around  and  appoint  a  Poor  Committee,  and  that  com- 
mittee takes  from  the  Poor  Director  almost  all  his  duties,  especially  that 
of  purchasing  supplies.  The  chairman  of  the  committee  told  me  the 
other  day  that  a  member  of  the  committee  came  to  him  and  said  he  had 
a  friend  who  was  running  a  grocery  store,  and  he  had  been  at  him  a 
good  deal  to  get  some  orders  from  the  city.  He  said  :  "If  you  haven't 
any  objection,  just  give  me  a  little  order."  The  chairman  said  he  had 
no  objection,  and  supposed  he  was  going  to  give  him  an  $8  or  $10  order. 
Under  that  license  that  member  bought  $300  or  $400  worth  of  groceries 
that  cannot  be  used  inside  of  four  years.  Then  he  at  once  turned  around 
and  0-K'd  the  bill,  and  that  binds  the  city,  for  any  member  of  the  poor 
committee  can  0-K  a  bill.  Now,  if  this  new  work  is  carried  out  the 
way  you  gentlemen  propose,  I  fear  it   is  going  to   take  away  from  us  a 


•*'  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  1 3 

great  deal  of  the  strength  and  interest  of  the  various  charities  in  that 
city.  .But  we  are  very  green  and  we  have  much  to  learn,  and  we  are 
glad  to  be  dropped  into  a  furnace  of  this  kind,  where  we  can  be  warmed 
up  and  dried  out  so  soon. 

Miss^RicHMOND,  General  Secretary  of  the  Charity  Organization  vSoci- 
ety  or  Baltimore,  was  introduced  and  spoke  as  follows  : 

The  question  of  the  demarcation  of  private  and  public  charity  is 
after  all  a  question  of  expediency,  and  I  cannot  formulate  any  one 
great  nioral  principle  that  is  involved  in  the  division  of  the  work.  If  it 
is  simply  a  question  of  expediency,  do  not  let  us  get  into  the  habit  of  feel- 
ing that  private  and  public  charities  are  in  any  sense  opposed  to  each 
other.  I  think  that  is  a  possible  tendency,  and  a  very  fatal  one.  It  has 
occurred  to  me  that  one  function  of  a  charity  organization  society  may 
well  be  to  create  an  intelligent  public  interest  in  public  charities.  No 
public  charity  can  be  a  success  without  that.  Public  officials  are  just 
like  other  people.  Unless  they  have  some  one  interested  in  what  they 
are  doing,  their  interest  flags.  There  is  no  way  of  getting  at  what 
public  charities  are  for  and  what  they  do,  and  do  not  do,  so  promptly  as 
to  take  an  intelligent  citizen  and  interest  him  in  the  welfare  of  some  par- 
ticular family,  and  then  let  him  touch  our  public  charities  from  the  rela- 
tion of  our  public  charities  to  that  family.  Take  an  intelligent  man 
and  give  him  a  family,  where  there  are  two  or  three  small  boys.  He 
cares  for  the  pubfic  schools  then  as  he  never  cared  before.  He  cares  for 
every  public  institution  that  affects  the  lives  and  welfare  of  those  boys. 
That  is  a  form  of  education  which  seems  to  me  most  practical  and 
efficient,  and  one  that  the  charity  organization  societies  still  have  to 
develop.  We  are  doing  it,  but  not  to  the  extent  we  should.  Another 
question  arises  :  Aren't  we  getting  ourselves  into  the  same  difficulty 
that  the  clergymen  are  in?  They  say,  "All  your  charities  are  spring- 
ing up  and  you  are  taking  away  our  workers;  we  are  losing  in  concen- 
tration." You  can't  blame  them.  They  want  to  keep  their  people 
about  them  and  make  their  churches  powerful.  It  is  natural;  but  until  a 
man  rises  above  that,  he  is  not  the  useful  citizen  and  Christian  that  he 
should  be.  A  charity  organization  society  is  only  doing  the  right  thing 
when  it  puts  its  members  into  right  relations  with  every  other  charity  in 
the  community,  public  and  private. 

The  Chairman. — We  will  hear  from  the  president  of  the  first  charity 
organization  society  in  the  country,  Mr.  T.  Ciuilford  Smith  of  Buffalo. 

Mr.  T.  Guilford  Smith  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  was  then  introduced,  and 
said: 

It  is  very  cheering,  indeed,  to  see  so  much  interest  in  the  abolition 
of  outdoor  relief.  I  said  the  same  thing  last  night,  and  some  gentle- 
men came  to  me  afterwards  and  asked  me  if  I  meant  i)ublic  or  private 
outdoor  relief.     Of  course  I  meant  public  outdoor  relief.     I   have  in 


14  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

my  pocket  a  valuable  paper,  which  will  be  read,  1  believe,  at  one  of 
our  public  sessions,  from  the  clerk  of  the  Whitechapel  Board  of  Guar- 
dians in  East  London.  We  know  what  Whitechapel  is.  We  know  it 
is  one  of  the  worst  parts  of  the  East  End,  and  we  know  what  the  gulf 
is  between  the  East  and  West  end  of  London.  This  paper  shows  how 
outdoor  relief  ought  to  be  curtailed,  how  it  can  be,  and  why  the  results 
are  so  gratifying  when  it  is  curtailed.  In  the  city  of  Buffalo  we  are 
hoping  that  the  millenium  may  arrive,  when  we  shall  have  no  outdoor 
relief.  Mr.  Kellogg,  in  his  report  in  1873,  endeavored  first  to  have 
the  municipal  government  insist  that  all  outdoor  relief,  and  every  other 
relief  by  the  city,  should  be  subject  to  investigation.  The  mayor  at 
that  time  said  he  did  not  know  about  soap,  candles,  groceries  and  shoes, 
but  he  would  be  quite  willing  that  coffins  should  not  be  given  out  with- 
out investigation.  That  was  the  first  ordinance,  and  coffins  became  by 
law  subject  to  inspection  and  all  that.  We  did  find  one  or  two  cases 
where  people  applied  for  coffins,  who  did  not  have  any  corpse,  but 
wanted  to  speculate  in  coffins.  That  led  to  the  passage  of  an  ordinance 
under  which  all  outdoor  relief  is  now  subject  to  police  investigation. 
As  we  think  two  men  are  always  better  than  one,  the  Charity  Organi- 
zation Society  of  Buffalo  had  an  ordinance  passed,  according  to  which 
the  mayor  sends  to  us  every  morning  a  copy  of  all  the  applications 
for  outdoor  relief.  We  send  our  agents  to  supplement  the  work  of 
the  city  agents  and  the  result  is  that  sometimes  there  is  a  difference 
of  judgment  as  to  whether  the  relief  is  wise  or  unwise.  We  keep  a 
carefully  tabulated  statement  every  day  as  to  how  much  money  the 
city  has  in  its  hands;  and  we  take  pleasure  in  showing  the  authorities 
how  much,  in  our  opinion,  has  gone  wrong.  In  due  time  we  hope  by 
this  method  to  get  outdoor  relief  absolutely  abolished.  But  it  is  a 
long,  hard  row,  and  whether  we  shall  be  able  to  accomplish  it  or  not,  I 
do  not  know.  I  think  the  whole  charity  organization  movement  cannot 
do  better  than  to  keep  on  preaching  that  doctrine  until  the  desired 
object  is  attained. 

A  Delegate. — I  wish  to  call  attention  to  the  immense  amount  of  pub- 
lic charity  in  this  country  which  seems  utterly  ignored  by  the  charity 
organizations.  It  is  practical  charity  to  a  large  degree.  I  refer  to  our 
national  pensions.  I  know  they  are  often  given  in  order  to  get  grocery 
bills  paid.  Merchants  will  secure  a  pension  for  a  man  in  order  to 
secure  payment  of  the  debts  due  them.  Many  such  instances  have 
come  to  my  attention;  and  I  wonder  if  any  attempt  has  been  made  to 
scientifically  investigate  the  matter.  It  is  going  to  be  an  important 
matter  in  the  future. 

Mr.  Ansley  Wilcox  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society  of  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.,  was  next  introduced  to  the  congress,  and  said  : 

On  behalf  of  Section  i,  of  this  congress,  I  feel  personally  repaid,  and 
I  am  sure  all  those  who  have  been  drawn  here  this  afternoon  have  been 


^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  I? 

repaid  for  the  loss  of  our  own  sectional  meeting,  or  the  postponement 
of  it,  by  the  opportunity  afforded  to  listen  to  the  thorough  and  brilliant 
discussion  on  this  subject  which  has  taken  place  here.  It  has  been 
opened  up  well.  The  discussion  this  afternoon  has  prepared  the  way 
for  tiae'papers  which  will  be  read  this  evening,  and  papers  which  will  be 
presepteti  in  Section  i  tomorrow  morning.  This  evening  papers  will 
be  presented  on  the  question  of  the  proper  boundaries  of  public  and 
private  relief,  and  upon  the  subject  of  poor  relief  in  large  cities,  and 
questions  of  that  kind,  which  are  directly  in  line  with  the  discussion 
this  afternoon.  Tomorrow  morning  we  shall  have  a  paper,  which  has 
come  to  us  only  to-day,  by  Baron  von  Reitzenstein,  of  Germany,  and 
which  I  know  will  prove  of  great  interest.  I  ask  that  this  meeting 
adjourn  to  tomorrow  morning  in  order  that  the  members  may  have  an 
opportunity  to  listen  to  this  paper  of  Baron  von  Reitzenstein. 
The  Section  then  adjourned. 


SECOND  SESSION,  June  13,  1893.— 2  P.  M. 

Jeffrey  R.   Brackett,  Esq.,  of  Baltimore,  in  the  Chair. 

The  Chairman. — I  have  been  asked  to  tell  you  that  of  the  four 
papers  put  down  upon  the  program,  two  by  your  leave,  will  simply  be 
read  by  title,  namely,  the  paper  on  the  Elberfeld  system,  by  Dr. 
Thoma,  Burgomaster  of  Freiburg,  and  the  paper  on  friendly  visiting, 
by  Dr.  Mijnsterberg,  of  Hamburg.  We  have  left  a  paper  on  friendly 
visiting  by  Mrs.  Roger  Wolcott,  of  Boston,  and  another  paper  on  the 
same  subject  by  Miss  Prideaux,  of  London.  We  all  agree  in  this,  that 
conference  meetings  are  much  more  interesting  when  but  few  papers 
are  read  and  we  have  the  opportunity  of  hearing  short,  terse  speeches 
from  a  number  of  practical  people.  Therefore,  by  your  leave,  we  shall 
read  one  paper  and  part  of  another,  and  then  we  shall  have  several 
brief  addresses  by  various  ladies  and  gentlemen.  The  meeting  will 
begin  with  a  paper  on  friendly  visiting  by  Mrs.  Roger  Wolcott,  of 
Boston,  to  be  read  by  Miss  Frances  Smith,  of  Boston. 

Miss  Smith  then  read  that  paper.  At  its  conclusion  the  Chairman 
said: 

Dr.  Ayres,  Secretary  of  the  Charity  Organization  of  Cincinnati,  has 
very  kindly  consented  to  read  Miss  Prideaux's  paper  and  to  call  our 
attention  especially  to  those  points  which  apply  to  work  in  American 
cities. 

Dr.  Ayres  then  read  the  paper  prepared  by  Miss  Prideaux  of  London 
on  friendly  visiting. 

Dr.  Ayres. — I  had  the  pleasure  recently  of  reading  a  very  full  ac- 
count   in    the   English  papers  of  the  Charity  Organization    Conference 


1 6  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

held  in  ],ondon  on  the  20th  of  May  last,  in  which  all  the  charitable 
organizations  of  Great  Britain  were  represented,  and  they  had  a  three 
days'  conference,  holding  morning  and  evening  sessions,  and  visiting 
institutions  in  the  afternoons.  The  papers  were  upon  investigation 
and  registration  and  the  work  of  charity  organization  committees. 
One  gentleman  from  one  of  the  district  committees  of  London  described 
at  great  length  the  details  of  registration.  I  imagine  that  their  regis- 
tration is  done  with  more  system  and  with  greater  care  than  in  many 
American  cities.  Another  described  in  great  detail  the  principles  of 
investigation.  I  remember  this  point,  that  they  should  inquire  of 
the  neighbors  and  of  the  parish  priests,  and  in  the  retail  stores,  and 
of  the  relatives  of  the  family  in  other  cities,  as  well  as  at  home, 
and  so  on,  all  as  a  part  of  the  regular  investigation  to  be  gone 
through  in  every  case.  I  suppose  that  some  of  our  societies  in  this 
country  take  this  much  care,  but  others  do  not.  At  any  rate,  in  Lon- 
don this  part  of  their  work  is  very  carefully  done.  But  when  I  came 
to  the  friendly  visiting,  I  was  rather  surprised  to  see  that  the  idea  did 
not  seem  to  take;  at  least,  the  ideas  which  I  thought  were  strong,  from 
an  American  point  of  view,  were  not  marked  in  the  newspaper  with  the 
word  "applause,"  as  were  so  many  others.  The  only  time  that  I  saw 
"applause"  at  the  end  of  a  remark  relating  to  friendly  visits  was  after  a 
remark  that  investigators  and  other  members  of  the  committee  should 
visit  the  poor  in  their  homes  for  the  sake  of  getting  the  chief  informa- 
tion from  the  family  rather  than  from  neighbors,  retail  storekeepers  or 
anybody  else. 

I  feel  that  the  missionary  work  in  London  has  been  very  well  carried 
out,  but  the  spirit  of  friendly  visiting,  as  we  have  it  in  this  country,  is 
not  so  prevalent  as  appears  to  be  illustrated  in  this  paper  by  Miss  Pri- 
deaux. 

That  leads  me  to  one  other  remark.  There  is  in  friendly  visiting  a 
vast  power.  It  arouses,  as  somebody  else  has  said,  a  great  longing  on 
the  part  of  all  who  engage  in  it  to  do  something  for  their  poorer  neigh- 
bors. My  remark  is,  that  if  the  charity  organizations  do  not  undertake 
this  service,  there  will  be  a  thousand  other  agencies  that  will  take  it 
up,  for  it  is  a  force  that  cannot  be  neglected.  In  London  we  see  that 
the  Charity  Organization  Society  did  not  take  up  friendly  visiting  and 
we  find  that  other  societies  are  taking  it  up.  It  cannot  be  neglected, 
and  so,  if  the  Charity  Organization  Society  in  any  city  in  this  country 
do  not  take  up  this  great  earnest  work  then  other  people  will.  It  is 
true  that  in  some  places  such  friendly  visiting  through  charity  organi- 
zation societies  has  met  a  certain  antagonism  from  churches  which 
have  not  understood  the  movement.  The  good  people  of  the  churches 
do  not  enlist  as  visitors  because  their  pastors  do  not  teach  them  to  do 
so,  and  the  pastors  do  not  teach  them  so  because  the  theological  semi- 
naries have  not  so  instructed  them.  And  if  we  can  take  the  opinions 
of  two  leading  professors  in  two  leading  schools  of  Chicago,  who  have 


^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  I  7 

co-operated  in  this  Congress,  then  we  may  l|e  sure  that  to  the  semina- 
ries we  must  look  for  influences  which  will  eventually  lead  the  church 
mentljers  into  this  work. 

The  Chairman. — I  think  that  you  will  all  agree  with  me  that  we 
cann^fT spend  our  time  better  than  in  listening  to  short,  practical  talks 
by  j3r*eci'ical  people.  We  must  all  agree  on  the  desirability  of  friendly 
visiting.  I  don't  think  there  can  be  any  question  about  that.  If  I 
may  make  a  suggestion,  what  we  most  need  is  to  be  helped  by  being 
told  how  far  the  charity  organization  societies  of  this  country  are  liv- 
ing up' to  their  motto,  "Not  alms,  but  a  friend."  I  do  not  think  we 
should  be  pessimistic  as  to  this  branch  of  charity  organization,  but  I  do 
feel  (if  you  will  allow  me  to  express  my  own  opinion,  derived  from  a 
short  experience  on  that  side  of  our  work)  that  it  is  not  as  plain  sailing 
as  on  the  other  side,  the  side  of  official  work.  The  '<not  alms"  part  is 
much  easier  to  fulfill  than  the  "friend"  part.  Now  let  us  have  some 
practical  definite  suggestions  as  to  how  we  can  get  visitors  and  how  we 
can  keep  them  and  how  we  can  make  them  do  their  best  work. 

You  must  allow  me  just  one  moment  more,  for  I  want  to  speak  of  the 
great  responsibility  which  an  organization  assumes,  when,  in  print,  be- 
fore the  public,  it  says,  "Turn  over  to  us  the  cases  that  deserve  relief." 

We  heard  last  night,  in  a  remarkably  eloquent  and  profound  dis- 
course, from  Mr.  Robert  Treat  Paine,  that  he  did  not  see  how  some 
cities  got  on  without  friendly  visitors,  and  I  know  we  shall  all  be  de- 
lighted if  Mr.  Paine,  one  of  the  original  advocates  of  charity  organiza- 
tion in  this  country,  will  tell  us  something  of  the  work  in  Boston,  how 
they  have  gotten  large  numbers  of  good  visitors  there  and  the  methods 
which  they  use. 

Mr.  Robert  Treat  Paine. — I  wish  I  could  answer  the  ([uestion. 
It  is  a  perpetual  struggle.  We  have  about  800  visitors  in  Boston  and 
they  are  passing  out  of  the  ranks  all  the  time  and  there  is  a  steady 
occasion  to  fill  up  the  gaps.  Just  how  it  is  done  you  must  ask  Miss 
Smith.  It  is  always  easy  to  turn  over  to  somebody  else  the  reply  to 
hard  questions.  If  I  may  say  just  one  word,  our  friendly  visiting 
began  and  the  work  was  ])romoted  chiefly  by  two  ladies  who  started 
the  preliminary  organization  of  "co-operative  visitors"  with  a  degree 
_  of  fine  enthusiasm  that  was  really  wonderful.  It  was  made  social,  it 
was  delightfiil,  instantly  the  thing  grew,  and  growing  spread,  and  in 
spreading  has  jjrosjjercd.  We  must  bear  in  mind  that  you  must  get 
visitors  in  different  ])arts  of  the  city  and  1  do  not  see  how  you  can 
enforce  upon  them  rigid  and  cast-iron  rules.  We  have  not  had  many 
rules  in  Boston,  but  the  idea  has  been  to  allow  each  conference  to  grow 
up  in  its  own  natural  healthy  way.  Some  of  the  conferences  have 
meetings  in  the  evening  at  the  house  of  a  member  where  its  friends 
meet  on  a  certain  evening.  The  executive  committees  meet  there  and 
the  visitors  come  and  talk  over  their  cases.  They  soon  have  very 
friendly  relations  with  each  other  and   it   is  very  easy  then  for  a  lady  to 


1 8  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

bring  in  one  friend  this  m^nth,  and  another  friend  the  next  month,  and 
so  the  conference  will  grow  and  spread.  Conferences  rise  and  fall  like 
the  tides.  Sometimes  there  will  be  an  emigration  of  some  of  the  ladies 
to  Europe  and  then  there  is  a  desperate  struggle  to  fill  up  the  ranks. 
It  is  a  perpetual  effort,  and  I  am  going  to  say  with  just  a  little  bit  of 
candor  that  it  is  not  perfectly  sure  that  any  particular  ward  or  small 
city  will  be  able  to  keep  up  the  energy  of  friendly  visiting  which  it 
may  start  with.  It  is  absolutely  sure  that  it  ought  to  be  kept  up. 
If  the  energies  fail  in  one  direction  or  at  one  time,  they  must  be 
replaced  and  re-invigorated  by  new  blood  and  by  new  energy  and  by 
new  methods,  as  soon  as  possible. 

I  have  sometimes  said  that  this  friendly  visiting  is  a  vast  evolution, 
and  that  just  a  little  bit  before  the  millenium  comes  we  shall  have 
something  better  ;  that  is,  if  we  can  have  the  whole  community  edu- 
cated up  to  these  ideas  of  friendly  visitors,  so  that  when  they  know  of 
any  family  that  is  in  need,  the  first  person  that  learns  of  the  distress 
will  go  there  in  a  patient,  thorough,  persistent  and  devoted  way,  there 
will  not  be  so  much  need  of  an  organization.  Yet  that  is  something 
coming  in  the  millenium,  and  it  is  a  long  way  off. 

One  of  the  questions  that  comes  up  with  us  is,  how  far  church  organi- 
zations should  work  with  or  should  supplant  friendly  visitors  in  the 
different  wards.  Now,  in  my  own  church  in  Boston,  Trinity  Church,  the 
largest  Episcopalian  church  in  the  city,  there  was  an  organization  of 
friendly  visitors  which  grew  up  there,  and  it  drew  a  great  deal  of  the 
visitors'  life  blood  right  out  of  my  own  conference  (Ward  12)  and  trans- 
planted it  to  the  church  organization,  because  the  ladies  preferred  to  work 
with  the  church  rather  than  with  the  conference.  And  yet  the  church  work 
was  done  miserably.  I  did  not  go  to  the  church  meeting,  but  my  wife  did 
and  a  number  of  other  persons.  But  they  did  not  happen  to  have  any 
brothers  who  put  into  that  work  energy  enough  to  give  the  work  thor- 
oughness and  scientific  foundations.  So  it  was  a  failure,  and  the  result 
is  that  the  church  visiting  society  has  vanished  and  the  conference  is 
left.  We  shall  get  those  same  ladies  into  the  conference  before  long. 
Thus  I  am  trying  to  convey  the  impression  that  there  is  not  a  uniform, 
cast-iron  method,  but  a  plan  must  be  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of 
each  ward  and  city  and  must  be  made  thorough.  Ladies  (almost  nine-  . 
tenths  of  the  visitors  are  ladies)  must  bring  in  their  friends,  one  after 
another,  and  get  them  to  see  that  the  friendly  visiting  of  the  poor  is  a 
consecrated  work,  and  besides,  that  there  must  be  a  great  deal  of 
friendly  pleasure  put  into  it.  Some  of  the  pleasantest  relations  of 
social  life  in  Boston  cluster  around  these  little  groups  of  friendly  vis- 
itors in  the  different  wards.  This  gives  them  a  great  power.  I  do  not 
see  why  such  relations  should  not  always  be  relied  upon. 

Mrs.   Glen  Wood  of  Chicago. — I  would  like  to  ask  whether   your 
friendly  visitors  are  gathered   from  among  the   young  people,  the  un- 


^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  1 9' 

Tnarried  ladies  and  gentlemen,  and  I  would  like  also  to  ask   if  they  are 
.all  laiJres,  or  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  do  this  visiting. 

Mr.  Paine. — There  are  men,  but  not  one  in  ten.  The  men  are  very 
busy.  Sometimes  you  may  get  a  good  visitor  for  a  year  or  two  and 
then  Tie  drops  out  ;  but  with  ladies  there  is  not  so  much  danger  of  this. 
YouM^ "ladies  come  in  and,  of  course,  families  are  selected  where  a  young 
and  inexperienced  lady  can  do  just  the  right  sort  of  work.  We  have  a 
great  many  young  ladies  and  a  great  many,  of  course,  of  middle  age. 

\Jrs.-M.  A.  H(3PKiNS. — We  have  what  we  call  a  Rector's  aid  society 
in  our  church.  He  gives  us  certain  names  and  a  certain  district  to 
visit,  and  we  report  every  week  to  him,  and  the  society  has  been  very 
successful  indeed  in  a  social  and  friendly  way.  We  report  everything 
we  do  to  him  because  we  meet  together  and  are  sent  out  from  the 
church. 

The  Chairman. — Mr.  Paine  has  told  us  something  that  makes  us 
men  ashamed  of  ourselves  and  feel  that  we  should  take  a  back  seat 
in  this  conference  ;  so  I  think  it  would  be  well  to  hear  from  one  of  the 
ladies  in  Boston  where  so  many  friendly  visitors  are  engaged.  Will 
Miss  Birtwell  of  Boston  tell  us  something  of  the  work  there  and  of 
her  ideas  about  it? 

Miss  Birtwell,  of  the  Associated  Charities,  Boston. — I  will  only 
speak  of  a  few  details.  Life  is  made  up  of  little  things  and  the  success 
of  the  work  in  our  district  always  depends  more  or  less  upon  practical 
common  sense  brought  to  bear  upon  what  might  be  called  compara- 
tively petty  details. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  things,  I  think,  that  the  salaried  agent  has 
to  contend  with  is  the  introduction  of  these  young  ladies,  these  inex- 
perienced visitors,  to  the  work.  She  is  placed  in  a  position  of  the 
■teacher  who  has  a  new  pupil  every  week  and  cannot  give  individual  at- 
tention.to  that  pupil,  so  as  to  bring  her  up  to  the  standard  of  the  rest 
of  the  class.  That  is  really  necessary  ;  and  here  is  a  place  in  which 
the  Executive  Committee  and  the  experienced  visitbrs  can  be  of  very 
great  value.  It  is  my  custom,  when  1  have  a  new  visitor,  to  give  her 
as  much  time  and  attention  the  first  week  or  two  as  I  possibly  can. 
Then  I  am  likely  to  invite  her  to  one  of  the  meetings  of  the  Executive 
Committee  and  1  introduce  her  to  all  the  members  of  the  committee 
and  I  watch  very  carefully  to  see  which  member  of  the  committee 
she  takes  a  particular  fancy  to,  or  which  member  takes  a  particular 
fancy  to  her,  and  then  I  place  her  under  the  wing  of  that  i)articular 
person.  When  an  emergency  arises  in  the  family  that  is  assigned  to  her 
to  visit,  I  perhaps  ask  this  member  of  the  executive  committee  to  call 
upon  her  and  talk  it  over  with  her,  instead  of  my  writing  a  business 
letter  about  it ;  and  in  that  way  the  pleasant  social  relations  to  which 
Mr.  Paine  has  referred  are  formed  and  the  relation  of  the  new  visitor  to 
the  conference  is  strengthened,  her  interest  and  enthusiasm  are  aroused, 
and  she  will  do  much  better  work.     'Ihe  members  of  the  executive  com- 


20  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

mittee  can  also  give  her  a  great  deal  of  insight  into  the  work  such  as  the 
agent  has  not  possibly  the  time  to  give.  An  inexperienced  visitor  needs 
that  very  much.  When  we  assign  a  family  to  an  experienced  visitor  we  do 
not  have  to  give  her  any  instructions  about  it.  We  simply  say,  take  this 
family  and  study  it  and  see  what  the  trouble  is  and  what  you  can  do 
about  it.  But  that  general  instruction  is  not  enough  for  an  inexperienced 
visitor.  She  wants  to  know  what  she  must  do  and  she  wants  a  very 
definite  object  ;  and  then  she  is  apt  to  lose  sight  of  everything  else. 
Perhaps  there  is  a  child  to  be  gotten  into  the  eye  and  ear  infirmary, 
and  after  she  has  gotten  the  child  in,  she  is  very  apt  to  come  back 
and  say,  <'Now  I  have  done  that,  and  I  have  not  anything  else  to 
go  for,  and  when  I  go,  the  woman  wonders  what  I  have  come  for." 
She  has  lost  sight  of  the  chief  end  and  she  needs  to  be  warned  against 
this  mistake.  She  may  go  with  the  definite  object  of  getting  the  child 
into  the  infirmary,  but  at  the  same  time  she  must  not  lose  sight  of  the 
fact  that  while  she  is  doing  that,  her  main  object  also  is  to  establish  a 
friendship  with  that  woman,  so  that  after  the  definite  object  is  accom- 
plished her  visits  may  be  continued  in  a  perfectly  natural  manner  and 
be  looked  forward  to  with  more  pleasure  than  when  there  was  a  definite 
object  in  them. 

A  good  deal  is  said  about  the  exchange  of  sympathy  and  experience, 
but  I  do  not  think  we  make  enough  of  that  after  all.  We  talk  about  it 
a  great  deal,  and  yet  we  do  not  make  it  definite  enough.  Now,  we  want 
to  exchange  experiences,  to  enlarge  the  horizon  of  these  poor  people  by 
sharing  our  pleasures  with  them,  but  I  think  it  goes  deeper  when  we 
share  our  sorrows  with  them.  We  are  very  willing  to  tell  them  about 
our  joys,  but  our  sorrows  are  sacred, — not  any  more  sacred,  however, 
than  theirs.  I  remember  calling  on  a  woman  once  whom  I  had  not  seen 
for  three  years.  She  looked  up  as  I  came  in,  and  she  said,  "How  do 
you  do?  How  is  the  little  orphan  niece?"  I  had  entirely  forgotten 
that  I  had  ever  told  her  of  any  sorrow  in  my  own  life,  and  yet  that  was 
the  thing  she  remembered  the  moment  she  caught  sight  of  my  face. 

I  remember  one  of  my  visitors  whom  I  thought  a  little  too  busi- 
ness-like, as  she  was  a  very  energetic  woman.  I  managed  once,  when 
she  was  present,  to  suggest  this  idea  of  telling  the  people  more  of  our 
own  lives,  and  she  evidently  took  it  to  heart.  The  next  time  she  went 
to  visit  a  certain  woman,  she  told  her  of  her  contemplated  trip  to  Europe 
and  her  plans  for  enjoyment  for  the  summer.  The  woman  looked 
at  her  rather  bitterly,  and  said,  "Oh,  yes,  it  is  very  fine  for  you  to 
go  to  Europe  and  have  a  good  time,"  and  the  visitor  said  to  me  after- 
wards that  that  plan  did  not  work.  But  this  summer  the  lady  is  in 
Europe,  and  I  called  on  the  woman  and  she  said  to  me,  "Yes,  Mrs.  So- 
and-So  was  telling  me  one  day  of  her  life  as  a  young  girl,  and  she  said 
that  she  could  not  always  go  to  parties  with  the  rest  of  the  girls,  because 
she  did  not  have  such  pretty  dresses  as  they  did,  and  she  always  had  to 


^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  2  1 

wear  the  same  dress.     She  told  me  that,  because  she  wanted  me  to  know 
she  felL-for  me  in  my  sorrow." 

I  think  it  will  go  deeper  if  we  share  our  sorrows  than  if  we  share 
merely  our  joys. 

Another  point  in  connection  with  our  visitors  is  their  lack  of  patience. 
Somgjtx3^y  has  said  that  the  virtue  most  to  be  admired  is  patience. 
This  is  especially  so  with  young  people  and  in  their  visiting  they  get 
■discouraged  because  they  are  so  impatient  of  results.  They  expect  to 
make  half  a  dozen  visits  on  a  poor  family  inside  of  a  month  and  see  them 
helped.  Now,  which  one  of  us  ever  had  our  lives  strongly  influenced  by 
a  friendship  of  a  month's  standing?  We  are  apt  to  say  that  these  people 
are  very  easily  influenced.  WelL  many  times  they  are,  and  it  is  very 
touching  to  see  their  responsiveness,  and  it  often  shows  the  poverty  of 
friendship  in  their  lives  when  we  see  how  very  readily  they  respond  to 
slight  acts  of  friendship.  But  after  all  a  real  deep  friendship  is  a  thing 
of  slow  growth,  and  these  young  visitors  must  learn  that  they  must  work 
long  and  patiently  for  results. 

I  once  heard  a  sermon  which  made  an  impression  on  my  mind  that 
has  remained  with  me  for  many  years.  One  of  its  main  ideas  was  to 
get  your  influence  before  you  use  it.  Many  people  seem  to  think  that 
if  they  can  visit  a  poor  family,  by  virtue  of  their  superior  education  and 
culture  they  must  immediately  have  a  very  strong  influence.  They  do 
not  get  it  that  way.  They  must  get  it  just  as  our  friends  get  an  influ- 
ence over  us,  by  long,  patient  contact,  and  by  the  slow,  natural  growth 
of  friendship. 

There  is  another  point  which  I  should  like  to  refer  to.  Sometimes 
the  visitors  and  their  families  do  not  get  on  particularly  well.  The  visitor 
does  not  get  very  much  mterested  in  her  family,  and,  what  is  more  im- 
portant, the  family  does  not  get  interested  in  her.  Now,  I  might  just 
as  well  take  two  persons  in  this  room  and  say,  "Now  I  want  you  to  be 
intimate  and  confidential  friends  at  once,"  as  to  expect  that  a  success- 
ful friendship  is  going  to  be  established  simply  because  a  well-to-do  per- 
son is  sent  to  a  poor  person.  It  does  not  follow  necessarily.  The  law 
of  congeniality  holds  in  these  relations  as  in  the  ordinary  relations  of 
life,  and  if  the  visitor  and  the  family  do  not  prove  congenial,  it  seems 
to  me  a  mistake  to  force  it,  and  to  insist  upon  the  visitor  continuing 
her  relations  with  that  family.  We  will  not  give  up  too  easily,  but  it 
is  wiser  to  make  the  change  and  try  again.  Of  course,  those  who  assign 
the  visitors  to  the  families  must  have  rare  insight  into  human  nature  and 
human  character  in  order  to  assign  cases  successfully;  but  everybody 
will  make  mistakes,  and  those  mistakes  can  easily  be  removed  by  recog- 
nizing the  fact  of  human  nature.  It  seems  to  me  wise  not  to  be  too 
persistent.  American  women  have  the  reputation  of  adaptability  in 
all  the  relations  of  life.  There  is  no  qualification  more  necessary  for 
successful  work  in  the  line  of  charity. 


22  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

The  Chairman. — Mr.  Paine,  I  am  sure,  astounded  many  of  us  b)^ 
telling  us  that  there  were  so  many  friendly  visitors  in  Boston.  Now,  we 
know  that  many  other  cities  are  not  so  fortunate.  New  York,  for 
instance,  although  an  enormous  city,  has,  compared  to  Boston,  few 
friendly  visitors.  Of  course,  we  must  bear  in  mind  the  peculiar  geo- 
graphical position  of  New  York  city.  There  are  gentlemen  present 
who  can  tell  us  more  of  the  work  in  that  city. 

I  should  like  to  ask,  what  do  we  mean  by  friendly  visitors  ?  The 
phrases  that  we  use  are  like  a  great  many  tables  of  statistics  that  we 
read.  We  can  read  the  figures,  but  we  do  not  know  all  that  is  behind 
the  figures.  One  hundred  good  visitors,  who  can  be  relied  on  to  do 
prompt  and  effective  work,  are  infinitely  better  than  three  hundred 
visitors  on  whom  we  cannot  rely,  but  who  are  simply  enrolled  on  the 
lists  of  those  who  occasionally  work  with  us.  I  do  not  mean  to  imply 
that  the  eight  hundred  in  Boston  are  not  every  one  just  as  good  visitors 
as  Mrs.  Roger  Wolcott,  but  I  know  that  in  Baltimore,  my  own  city, 
there  is  a  great  difference  in  visitors. 

Now,  I  know  we  should  all  be  glad  to  hear  something  on  friendly 
visiting  work,  on  the  numbers  of  friendly  visitors  and  why  we  cannot  get 
hold  of  them,  in  the  largest  city  of  the  country,  where  the  problems,  (as 
Mr.  Paine  said  last  night)  are  most  pressing  and  are  going  to  be  most 
pressing,  if  this  work  is  going  to  do  what  we  claim  that  it  shall  do.  We 
shall  all  be  delighted  to  hear  from  Mr.  De  Forest,  president  of  the 
Charity  Organization  Society  of  New  York. 

Mr.  De  Forest. — I  think  my  Boston  friends  know  that  New  York 
does  not  like  to  be  interrogated  on  this  subject.  Now,  I  confess  that 
I  have  listened  to  this  paper  of  Mrs.  Wolcott's,  this  portrayal  of  the 
ideal  friendly  visitor,  with  very  much  the  same  feelings  as  when  I  have 
read  descriptions  of  the  marvellous  architecture  of  the  World's  Fair. 
If  I  had  not  come  here  and  seen  for  myself  this  wonderful  symmetry, 
this  harmony  of  form  and  color,  which  produces  the  grand  architec- 
tural eft'ect,  I  certainly  could  not  have  believed  it  possible;  so  if  I  had 
simply  read  Mrs.  Wolcott's  paper,  and  had  not  attended  these  con- 
ferences and  seen  this  row  of  Boston  women  sitting  with  pencil  in 
hand,  taking  down  everything  that  was  said,  and  if  I  did  not  know 
something  about  the  actual  situation  in  Boston,  I  should  say  that  this 
ideal  could  not  be  realized. 

I  do  not  know  how  it  is  in  smaller  cities,  but  I  do  know  how  it  is  in 
New  York.  To  speak  with  perfect  frankness,  we  have  extreme  difficulty, 
[  will  not  say  in  getting  this  ideal  friendly  visitor,  because  I  have  never 
^een  the  ideal  friendly  visitor  realized  in  New  York,  but  in  getting 
fairly  good  friendly  visitors.  Now,  I  say  that  frankly,  because  some  of 
3ur  brethren  in  other  large  cities  may  be  unduly  discouraged  by  this 
^tory  of  Boston  success.  It  should  not  be  put  down  entirely  to  lack 
'of  effort,  because  I  know  there  have  been  conscientious  efforts  made  ta 
secure  a  much  larger  number  of  friendly  visitors  than  we  have. 


-y  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  23 

We  have  difterent  conditions  in  New  York  city,  from  those  in  Boston 
and  Ltake    it  that    different   conditions  exist   almost   everywhere. 

We   have  tremendous  preoccupation. 

Then  we  do  not  have  separate  homes  for  the  poor.  We  have  a  tene- 
menrhQ.use  system.  And  I  speak  of  it  for  this  reason,  because  many 
youiig^women  whom  we  should  naturally  secure  as  friendly  visitors  and 
who  would  probably  be  secured,  if  they  lived  in  other  places,  could  not 
be  asked  to  go  by  themselves  into  New  York  tenements. 

After  all  the  question  before  us  is  a  practical  one,  and  1  believe  in 
giving  a  practical  bent  to  this  talk.  We  all  want  to  know  what  to  do. 
We  are  all  agreed  as  to  the  beneficence  and  as  to  the  desirability  of 
friendly  visiting.  We  are  all  agreed  that  this  ideal  of  Mrs.  Wolcott's 
should  be  lived  up  to  as  far  as  possible.  Yet'  some  of  us  feel  that  we 
must  put  up  with  what  we  can  get,  instead  of  insisting  upon  that  ideal. 
The  great  (juestion  is,  how  to  get  the  friendly  visitors  and  that  ques- 
tion, so  far  as  my  own  knowledge  of  charity  organization  work  in  this 
country  is  concerned,  has  been  more  nearly  solved  in  Boston  than  any- 
where else. 

Now,  if  you  are  asking  me  for  my  opinion  as  to  why  it  is  difficult  to 
find  friendly  visitors,  I  wish  you  would  bear  in  mind  first  the  ques- 
tion of  environment.  I  do  not  think  there  ought  to  be  any  excuse  in 
a  village  or  in  a  small  town  (and  when  I  say  a  small  town,  I  do  not 
know  but  that  I  should  include  a  pretty  large  town),  1  do  not  think 
there  ought  to  be  any  difficulty  in  such  a  place,  with  organization  and 
energy,  in  getting  an  excellent  corps  of  friendly  visitors.  There  is 
usually  such  an  absence  of  pre-occupation  in  smaller  places  that  good 
people  have  time  to  attend  to  this  kind  of  work.  Yet  Boston  is  a 
large  city.  It  has  been  successful  in  obtaining  friendly  visitors  and 
the  Boston  lesson,  to  most  of  us,  is  that  success  in  friendly  visiting 
is  a  question  of  management,  a  question  of  organization.  If  the  rest 
of  us  were  able  to  place  in  control  of  our  societies — I  was  going  to  say 
such  men,  1  think  1  would  prefer  to  say  such  women — as  the  Boston 
society  is  composed  of,  we  should  hear  v^ery  much  less  complaint  about 
the  difficulty  of  getting  friendly  visitors. 

Now,  in  connection  with  New  York,  if  you  will  pardon  me  for  mak- 
ing a  suggestion,  there  are  two  representatives  here,  a  gentleman 
and  a  lady  who  stand  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  largest  societies  in 
New  York.  The  gentleman  is  Mr.  John  Paton  and  the  lady  is  Mrs. 
Fullerton.  The  society  to  which  I  allude  is  -'the  New  York  Association 
for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Poor."  It  stands  to  the  Charity 
Organization  Society  of  New  York  as  the  older  relief  societies  do  to 
the  younger  charity  organization  societies  in  other  cities.  If  you 
want  any  further  inlormation  as  to  New  York  you  will  be  rewarded  by 
applying  to  them. 

Mrs.  R.  H.  Hayes  of  Galveston,  Te.xas. — I  do  not  hear  anybody 
speak   for   my  portion  of  the  country.      I  do  not    think   we  are   repre- 


24  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

sented  here  at  all.  You  have  got  no  further  south  than  Philadelphia, 
and  I  came  from  Galveston,  Texas.  I  belong  to  four  or  five  organiza- 
tions and  when  we  joined  them  we  expected  to  make  friendly  visits. 
The  question  never  comes  up  about  friendly  visits.  We  expect  them. 
That  is  a  part  of  our  duty,  and  in  that  way  we  have  raised  women  and 
children  from  poverty  and  degradation.  I  only  want  to  say  these  few 
words,  because  you  seem  to  keep  it  all  up  north  to  yourselves,  and  I 
want  to  let  you  know  some  work  is  done  down  south  of  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line, — although  I  was  born  in  Illinois  and  was  raised  in 
Springfield. 

The  Chairman. — I  know  you  would  all  like  to  hear  a  few  words  about 
the  work  in  New  York  from  Mr.  Paton,  President  of  the  great  Society 
for  the  Improvement  of  tile  Condition  of  the  Poor  of  that  city. 

Mr.  Paton,  President  of  the  Association  for  Improving  the  Condi- 
tion of  the  Poor,  New  York. — It  is  only  an  hour  since  I  arrived 
direct  from  London,  where  I  had  a  sort  of  roving  commission  from 
my  society  to  investigate  the  work  of  relief  in  the  slums,  and  I  have 
spent  considerable  time  in  that  interesting  study.  I,  therefore,  was 
quite  unable  to  prepare  a  paper  for  this  congress,  but  I  hurried  here 
direct  from  the  steamer  in  order  to  have  at  least  the  satisfaction  of 
being  present. 

One  speaker,  whose  remarks  interested  me  very  much,  referred  to 
the  Charity  Organization  Society  of  London.  In  the  course  of  my 
work  last  winter  I  saw  a  great  deal  of  that  most  excellent  society  and  of 
its  exceedingly  able  secretary,  Mr.  Loch,  who  is  well  known,  at  least  by 
name,  to  many  here.  If  Mr.  Loch  were  present,  I  do  not  think  he 
■would  contradict  me  when  I  say  that,  in  the  matter  of  friendly  visiting 
and  in  the  investigation  of  needy  cases  and  in  the  detail  work,  his 
society  does  not  begin  to  compare  with  what  is  done  by  the  splendid 
organization  presided  over  by  our  friend  Mr.  R.  \V.  De  Forest, — the 
Charity  Organization  Society  of  New  York.  The  London  society  does 
its  work  in  a  different  way,  and  it  does  not  do  nearly  so  much  in  the 
way  of  friendly  visiting. 

The  work  of  friendly  visiting  is  one  of  the  deepest  interest  to  the 
society  of  which  I  have  been  president  for  a  good  many  years,  the  New 
York  Association  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Poor.  We  have 
been  at  this  work  for  nearly  fifty  years,  and  before  long  we  shall  cele- 
brate our  jubilee.  We  endeavor  to  cover  a  pretty  large  field,  the  city 
of  New  York  from  the  Battery  to  the  Harlem  River,  probably  as  large  a 
field  as  is  covered  by  any  society  in  the  United  States,  and  we  investi- 
gate and  give  relief,  of  course,  without  distinction  of  creed,  of  color  or 
race.  When  I  became  connected  with  this  society  in  1880  we  enjoyed 
the  services  of  about  350  friendly  visitors.  Well,  some  of  them  were 
doing  admirable  work,  but  about  that  time  the  New  York  Charity 
Organization  Society  began    to  throw  light   upon  the  subject  of  giving 


^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  25 

relief  to  the  poor,    and  I  unhesitatingly  say  that  we  owe   to  that  society 
the  ne^w,  and  I  think  improved  method,  in  which  we  carry  out  our  work. 
Gradually,  with  many  a  vote  of  thanks  and  many  a  kindly  expression, 
we  have  dropped  from  our  list  all  our  350  visitors.      Some  of  them,  as  I 
have*'sajd,  were  doing  splendid  work,  but  there  was  a  most  awful  waste 
of  ci*ari'ty.      We  were  spending  thirty  or  forty  thousand  dollars  a  year, 
and  this  amount  was  given   away,  in  the  days   when  New  York  was  not 
so  large  as  it  is  now,  with  a  free    and  lavish  and  very  generous  hand, 
We  were,  I  do  think,   helping   to  build  up  a  gigantic  system  of  pauper- 
ism.     We  were   pauperizing   the   recipients  by  the   indiscriminate  and 
thoughtless  and   at  the  same   time,  kindly  and   generous   way  in  which 
our  relief  was  given.      Our  friends  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society 
taught  us  an  admirable  lesson  and  we  have  never  ceased  to  study  their 
methods  and   to  work,    as  Mr.  De  Forest  will  tell   you,  in   the  greatest 
harmony  and  co-operation  with  them.      We  gradually  gQt.jidjjf  our  35_o 
visitors  and  we  now  do  our  work  more  thoroughly  and  more  efficiently 
with  a  small  corps  of  trained  visitors  of  our  own,  most  of  them  educated 
and  brought  up  in  our  own  office,  our  salaried  officers.     We  believe  in  '      ^st 
skilled,  trained  visiting.      I  believe  there    is  no  more  kindly  visiting   in 
the  city  of  New  York  than  that  of  our  visitors.      We  know  them   inti- 
mately,  every  one  of  them.      We  studied  their  characters  before   we 
gave  them  these  important  appointments.     They  are  women  of  kindly 
symf>athy,  but   they  are  skilled   and   trained  in  the   work.      We    have 
divided  the  city  of  New  York  into  districts.     I  wish  Mrs.  FuUerton  was 
present  here,  and  she  could  tell  you  better  about  the  work.     Each  one 
of  these  women   has  charge   of  a  great   section  of  the  city,  at   least   as 
far  as  the  cases  reported  to  us.     Every  morning  at  nine  o'clock  they 
meet   in  the  superintendent's  office,  and  there  is  no  more   interesting 
place  in  New  York  to  study  the  methods  and  modes  of  charitable  work- 
ing than  in  our  office  between  nine  and  ten,  when   you  may   hear  the 
reports  and  see  the  work  which  is  done.      The  visitors  then  give  in  their 
reports  of  the  cases  which  they  have  seen   upon   the  previous  day,  the 
new  cases  are  handed  over  to  them  and  at  ten  o'clock  they  go  out  upon 
their  rounds,  all  over  that  vast  city,   returning  next  morning   with    the 
reports  of  the  new  cases  and  to  receive  again  the  fresh  ones.      We  pro- 
fess, whenever  it  is  desired,  to  give  within   twenty-four  hours  a  written 
report  on  any  case  that  is  sent  to  us  by  any  clergyman,  by  any  society, 
by  any  subscriber,  in  fact,  by  any  friend.     We  also  go  a  step  further.     We 
undertake  the  charge  of  the   family  or  of  the  individual,  and  I  do  not 
think  that  you  will  find  that  we  let  them  go  until  they  are  set  upon  their 
feet  or  no  longer  recjuire  relief. 

The  Chairman. — Now  we  have  heard  from  large  cities  and  we  have 
also  heard  that  it  is  probably  easier  to  develop  the  work  of  friendly 
visiting  in  smaller  cities.  1  know  you  will  all  like  to  hear  some  words 
from   a  smaller  city,  and  I  am  going  to  ask  Miss  Starr,  of  Burlington, 


26  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

to  tell  US  of  her  work,  and  of  the  success  in  Burlington  of  the  friendly 
visitors. 

Miss  M.  E.  Starr,  Secretary  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society, 
Burlington,  Iowa. — Our  society  is  only  a  year  and  a  half  old,  and  I  do 
not  think  with  its  youth  and  limited  field  and  its  inexperience  that  it 
will  be  of  any  value  here.  But  Mr.  Brackett  has  asked  me  whether  or 
not  we  have  been  able  to  secure  a  sufficient  number  of  visitors  who  would 
visit  their  families  often  enough  and  earnestly  enough.  While  believing 
heartily  in  friendly  visiting  and  hoping  that  it  will  one  day  accomplish 
what  it  aims  to  do,  I  must  answer  that  thus  far  we  have  not  been  success- 
ful. I  attribute  the  failure  to  two  reasons.  One  is  that  the  visitors  have 
too  many  families  to  care  for.  We  have  had  during  the  last  year  about 
130  families  and  about  70  visitors,  but  the  number  of  working  visitors 
is  so  small  that  many  have  had  five  families  to  visit  and  some  more. 
With  an  average  number  of  demands  upon  a  visitor  outside  of  her 
friendly  visiting  I  do  not  think  that  she  can  care  for  more  than 
two  families  in  a  way  that  will  tend  to  raise  them  above  the  need  of 
relief. 

Then  another  difficulty  has  been  a  lack  of  definite  information  on 
the  part  of  many  visitors  as  to  what  was  expected  of  them;  this  is 
partly  due  to  a  failure  to  attend  the  meetings.  How  to  remedy  that  I 
do  not  know,  and  I  wish  some  one  could  tell  me.  It  may  be  also  partly 
due  to  a  lack  of  sufficient  communication  between  the  visitors  them- 
selves. 

Mr.  George  D.  Holt,  Secretary  of  Associated  Charities,  Minneapo- 
lis.— I  think  the  matter  of  friendly  visiting,  considering  the  limited  time 
in  which  we  have  engaged  in  it,  is  very  far  advanced.      Our  city  has  a 
population  of  171,000  and  we  have  slums  and  everything  of  that  kind, 
with  individual  cases  that  are  probably  just  as  depressing  and  as  hard 
to  reach  as  in  any  city,  but  of  course  not  so  numerous.      The  thought 
has  occurred  to  me,  as  this  discussion  has  gone  on  as  to  the  great  city  of 
New  York,  why  it  would  not  be  a  good  idea  to  adopt  the  plan  we  have 
in  our  city  in  reference  to  the  liquor  traffic,  called  the  "Police  Limits," 
where  no  liquor  is  allowed  to  be  sold.      Why  could   not   this   friendly 
visiting  be  iiitroduced  into  some  section  of  New  York  and  made  a  com- 
plete success  there  and  then  spread  out?     I  think  that  is  the  reason  why 
we  have  succeeded  so  well.     We  did  not  district  the  city  all  off  and 
establish  a  conference  in  every  one  of  the  districts,  but  we  simply  started 
with  one  and  were  very  careful  in  selecting  the  workers  to  start  with,  and 
now  it  has  spread  into  four  conferences  covering  the  entire  city  and  the 
money  to   meet  all  expenses  was  in  sight  before  we  attempted  it.      I 
think   that    if  the   matter   is    started  in  this  way  it  will   be  successful, 
and   I  speak  of  this   for   those  who  are  just  starting   in   the  city  work. 
Raising  money  has  not  been  difficult  in  Minneapolis.      The  gentleman 
from  New  York  spoke  about  the  pre-occupied  condition  of  the  citizens. 
I  think  you  will  find   that   eminently  true  of  the  citizens  of  the  north- 


^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  27 

west.      They  are  pre-occupied,  and   that  is  one  of  the  hardest  things  to 
overcome. 

Dr.  J.  W.  Walk,  of  Philadelphia. — There  have  been,  during  the  dis- 
cussions of  the  congress,  several  references  to  Philadelphia  which  I 
wo'CiTd^  like  to  explain,  if  possible.  Mr.  Paine,  I  think,  referred  to  the 
fafttrlhat  Philadelphia  had  once  had  a  large  number  of  visitors,  but  had 
not  kept  up  the  number,  and  the  chairman  of  the  Charity  Organization 
committee  of  the  National  Conference  in  making  his  report  said  that 
Philadelphia  did  not  report  its  visitors.  Well,  I  want  to  make  a  very 
frank  admission.      I  will  tell  you  exactly  what  is  the  matter. 

When  Philadelphia  began  the  charity  organization  work,  as  you  know, 
it  began  with  a  great  many  district  organizations,  which  were  relieving 
agencies,  and  which  are  yet  relief  agencies.  The  visitors  at  the  very 
start  in  many  of  the  organizations  became  almoners  of  relief.  The 
visitors  gave  relief  and  even  where  they  did  not  give  it  they  made 
recommendations  to  the  superintendent,  which  soon  came  to  have  the 
force  of  commands,  so  that  a  visitor  in  going  to  a  family  was  recog- 
nized as  some  one  who  could  give  an  order  for  food  or  clothing  or  for 
the  payment  of  rent  or  for  other  things. 

Now,  1  think  every  one  in  this  room  will  agree,  and  I  think  the 
gentleman  who  is  president  of  the  New  York  Society  for  Improving 
the  Condition  of  the  Poor,  and  Mr.  De  Forest,  President  of  the 
Charity  Organization  Society  of  New  York,  will  agree  with  all  the 
others  that  when  relief  is  to  be  given  at  all,  it  should  be  given  by  an 
expert,  specially  qualified  to  judge  the  conditions  which  require  relief, 
and  to  discriminate  among  the  people  who  are  to  have  it,  so  that  he 
does  not  give  the  treatment  for  consumption  to  the  man  who  has  rheu- 
matism. 

Now  then,  what  is  our  position  in  Philadelphia?  After  the  first  few 
years  we  had  hundreds  of  visitors,  who  were  acting  as  almoners  of  relief, 
either  directly  or  otherwise.  That  was  the  condition  when  Mr.  Kel- 
logg, who  at  that  time  held  an  official  position  in  Philadelphia,  went  to 
New  York.  We  found  that  that  condition  could  not  continue  and  grad- 
ually our  visitors  fell  off.  I  have  made  no  report  this  year,  because  I 
want  to  tell  the  exact  truth,  and  it  was  very  hard  to  tell  the  truth  about 
that  condition  of  things;  I  mean,  hard  to  express  it  in  a  way  that  would 
not  be  misunderstood.  We  have  more  than  500  names  of  visitors  on 
the  list,  but  I  did  not  report  them,  because  I  am  afraid  a  great  many  of 
them  are  simply  names. 

I  hope  that  a  time  will  come,  when  Philadel])hia  will  have — (because 
we  are  not  "pre-occupied"  there;  we  have  jjlenty  of  time  to  eat  and 
sleep  in  Philadelphia;  we  get  along  nearly  as  well  as  the  people  that 
work  25  hours  a  <lay) — now,  1  hope  the  time  will  come  when  we 
shall  have  a  body  of  about  1200  visitors  there,  who  are  friendly 
visitors  exclusively,  carrying  sympathy,  counsel  .  and  encouragement 
to    the   poor.      Their  influence    is  not   at  all    belittled  and   injured   by 


28  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

the  idea  of  alms,  but  you  can  see  that,  having  started  wrong,  it  will 
take  us  a  good  while  to  get  right.  That  is  the  condition  in  Philadel- 
phia, but  I  ought  to  say,  in  justice  to  the  work,  that  we  have  a  great 
many  visitors  who  are  still  working  and  some  excellent  ones,  or  we 
could  not  carry  on  our  work  at  all. 

The  Chairman. — I  am  sure  that  the  remarks  of  our  friend  from  Phila- 
delphia and  of  Mr.  Paton  only  prove  to  us  all  the  more  that  the 
friendly  visitor  is  a  failure  when  allowed  to  dispense  alms. 

Miss  Frances  Smith  of  Boston. — I  should  like  to  say  a  few  words  as 
to  some  of  the  questions  which  have  been  brought  up  this  afternoon. 
As  to  the  difficulties  of  securing  visitors  for  certain  parts  of  New  York 
city,  I  wish  to  say  that  Ward  7  is  a  part  of  Boston  in  which  not  a  sin- 
gle visitor  lives.  We  have  to  draw  all  our  visitors  from  other  parts  of 
the  city,  and  I  want  to  tell  you  that  some  of  our  visitors  come  just  as 
far  as  they  would  have  to  go  if  they  were  living  in  New  York.  Some 
of  our  best  visitors  come  from  Meriden  and  Lexington,  some  of  them 
from  twenty  miles  away.  Now,  it  is  no  use  to  dwell  upon  the  difficul- 
ties of  the  situation.  My  people  always  say,  and  that  is  my  own  idea, 
"if  we  ought  to  do  a  thing,  we  can  do  it,  and  we  will  find  a  way  to 
do  it." 

Now,  as  to  getting  the  young  people,  I  think  they  said  that  there 
are  young  people  in  New  York  whom  they  might  get,  if  it  were  not  for 
these  dreadful  tenement  houses.  Well,  we  nave  a  similar  difficulty  in 
Boston.  Almost  all  the  people  in  the  district  where  I  am  at  present 
live  in  tenement  houses,  and  it  raises  a  difficult  question.  They  have 
brought  up  the  question  of  having  young  people,  and  discussed  it,  and 
they  have  always  said  that  their  youth  is  not  the  trouble.  It  simply 
depends  upon  the  character.  If  they  are  people  of  fine  and  noble 
character,  they  go  down  and  visit  in  these  tenement  houses  without 
any  hesitation.  And  I  am  proud  to  say  that  we  have  a  great  many 
young  lady  visitors  in  our  ward  and  not  one  has  ever  met  with  the 
slightest  sign  of  disrespect.  There  are  just  as  many  good  people  in 
Ward  7  as  on  Back  Bay,  and  if  anyone  attempts  to  show  disrespect  to  a 
lady  there,  the  poor  people  are  just  as  ready  to  come  to  her  assistance 
as  any  gentleman  on  Beacon  street. 

Another  difficulty  is  that  their  people  at  home  do  not  want  them 
to  visit  and  that  is  the  chief  trouble.  There  are  a  great  many  of 
these  young  ladies  who  would  come  gladly  but  for  their  fathers  and 
mothers,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  husbands  sometimes.  Well,  how  shall 
we  get  around  that?  We  have  got  to  bring  young  people  up.  The 
way  one  lady  found  was  this.  We  bring  them  in  and  let  them  see 
what  we  are  doing  and  we  get  them  interested  in  the  details,  and  grad- 
ually they  feel  some  confidence  in  themselves.  The  most  important 
thing  to  do  is  to  let  a  young  lady  copy  on  your  cards  or  records  the 
reports  of  the  visitors,  the  result,  perhaps,  of  the  investigations  of  the 
visitors.      They  learn  from  that  how  to  do  the  work  and    they  do  not 


^  _       CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  29 

get  so  much  an  idea  of  the  red  tape  as  they  might  if  you  gave  them 
other  parts  of  the  work  to  do.  Well,  now,  you  can  gradually  get  one 
of  these  young  ladies  from  office  work  into  visiting.  They  become 
interested  in  their  work,  and  they  go  home  and  get  their  families 
interested  and   then  there   is  no  further  difficulty. 

J'silppose  New  York  has  some  colleges.  We  get  young  men  and  young 
ladies  from  colleges  to  come  and  help  us  in  our  work.  It  is  not  quite  so 
satisfactory  as  other  visiting  in  some  ways,  as  they  remain  only  one  or 
two  .or  three  years,  when  they  move  and  the  family  loses  them,  but 
still  we  have  had  very  good  success.  It  is  extremely  interesting  to  find 
that  these  college-bred  young  people  pop  up  in  other  cities  at  the  head 
of  other  charitable-societies  and  come  back  to  us  and  read  us  papers  on 
what  they  have  seen  in  England  and  other  countries,  and  bring  back  to 
us  the  benefits  of  their  own  experience. 

Well,  then,  about  the  churches  and  the  liking  of  people  to  visit  in 
the  churches.  Now,  I  take  it  that  the  duty  of  a  charity  organization 
society  is  to  do  its  work  so  well  that  people  will  find,  unless  the 
church  does  exceedingly  good  work,  that  they  would  much  better  come 
back  and  work  with  the  charity  organization  society.  I  have  often 
had  people  who  left  us  for  the  church  societies  come  back  and  say  "We 
would  rather  work  here,  because  the  work  is  done  well,  and  we  like  to 
do  good  work." 

There  is  one  other  point.  Do  not  go  too  fast  in  your  work.  Make 
the  first  thing  in  your  charity  organization  work  the  finding  and  train- 
ing of  visitors.  Remember  always  that  you  must  have  a  visitor  for  each 
family.  I  do  not  think  it  is  half  as  important  that  we  should  go  out 
into  the  other  work,  important  as  it  is,  until  we  have  first  been  able  to 
get  visitors  for  all  the  families. 

Another  way  in  which  we  have  been  very  successful  is  for  each  visitor 
to  get  another  visitor.  Now,  you  must  not  say  to  them  in  the  abstract, 
"I  want  you  to  get  another  visitor,"  but  you  must  tell  them  about  a 
certain  family  and  ask  them  if  they  cannot  get  a  visitor  for  that  family. 
In  other  words  personal  interest  is  important. 

Next  let  me  speak  of  a  way  in  which  we  have  been  most  successful  in 
getting  Visitors,  because  I  do  not  know  that  any  other  conference  has 
tried  it.  We  used  to  write  up  the  whole  history  of  the  family.  But  who- 
ever got  acquainted  with  a  person  by  hearing  the  family  history  first? 
Who  ever  got  acfiuainted  with  people  by  being  told  all  their  faults,  the 
one  thing  we  used  to  dwell  upon?  We  used  to  give  all  the  bad  things 
about  families.  Now,  we  must  act  in  a  natural  way  in  charity  organi- 
zations as  well  as  elsewhere.  Now  all  we  put  on  the  list  is  a  very 
brief  statement.  I  will  su])pose  a  case:  "Family  of  Mary  and  John 
Sullivan;  live  at  149  Front  street;  they  have  three  children,  two  boys 
of  ten  and  twelve  years  and  a  girl  of  seventeen.  A  friendly  visitor 
is  very  much  needed;  can  introduce  herself  by  saying  that  she  comes 
from  Mrs.  Simons."      1   am  sujjjiosing   that   Mrs.  Simons  referred   this 


30  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

family  to  us.  But  suppose  we  heard  of  it  in  an  indirect  way.  Sup- 
pose that  the  girl  of  seventeen  is  out  of  work.  Then  we  might  write, 
"You  can  introduce  yourself  by  saying  that  you  have  heard  that  Mary 
is  out  of  work."  "A  visitor  can  aid  very  much  by  helping  Mary  and 
advising  her  how  to  get  work."  "The  visitor  will  find  herself  very 
useful  to  the  family  as  time  goes  on  from  month  to  month."  Add 
something  like  that.  You  must  not  let  her  think  that  there  is  only 
one  thing  to  do.  Now,  that  is  all  put  on  paper,  and  that  is  all 
that  is  given.  What  is  the  advantage  of  it?  It  is  that  the  friendly 
visitor  goes  to  that  family  and  forms  her  own  ideas  of  it.  She  feels  the 
same  interest  in  them  that  I  felt  in  the  very  first  family  that  1  visited. 
They  were  horrible  people,  but  I  did  not  know  it  at  the  time.  I  did 
not  know  anything  about  them,  but  I  went  in  to  see  them  and  I  never 
have  taken  more  interest  in  any  family.  If  I  had  known  what  they 
were,  I  do  not  believe  I  should  have  cared  so  much  for  them.  Remem- 
ber this,  that,  as  a  rule,  all  the  people  in  the  family  are  not  bad.  As  a 
rule,  it  is  only  one  or  two  of  them,  and  the  good  that  you  do  to  a  fam- 
ily is  usually  by  bringing  out  their  good  points  and  by  cultivating 
them.  It  is,  therefore,  very  bad  to  introduce  a  family  to  a  visitor  by 
telling  bad  things  about  them.  In  this  way  we  have  no  difficulty  what- 
ever in  getting  visitors  in  Ward  7  for  the  very  worst  families.  Of 
course  if  a  person  asks  not  to  be  sent  to  a  certain  kind  of  family  we  re- 
spect his  wishes,  but  otherwise  we  send  him  as  I  have  stated,  and  let 
him  find  out  what  the  family  is. 

It  is  very  important  to  encourage  a  visitor.  If  you  see  one  who  is 
disheartened,  you  must  find  something  to  keep  him  at  work.  Visitors 
are  often  discouraged  because  they  do  not  see  immediate  results.  They 
may  be  doing  a  very  good  work,  but  the  poor  people,  as  a  rule,  do  not 
know  how  to  express  themselves;  they  do  not  say  to  the  visitor  what 
they  feel.  Hence  an  inexperienced  visitor  will  be  discouraged.  It  is, 
therefore,  a  good  plan,  whenever  you  hear  any  good  thing  that  a  poor 
person  has  said  about  the  visitor,  to  repeat  it. 

Mr.  Paine. — I  have  been  asked  whether  we  have  any  poor  people 
among  our  visitors.  It  is  a  very  interesting  contrast  that,  whereas 
among  the  Associated  Charities  we  have  almost  none,  yet  among  the 
St.  Vincent  de  Paul  visitors  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  the  visitors 
are  almost  wholly  of  that  class,  and  they  do  beautiful,  faithful  and  de- 
voted friendly  work.  I  have  had  occasion  to  see  more  or  less  of  this  in 
Boston,  and  it  is  a  surprise  and  delight  to  me  to  see  how  thoroughly 
and  devotedly  the  poor,  plain  working  people,  who  are  Roman  Catho- 
lics, will  give  their  evenings  to  friendly  visiting  after  they  have  been 
working  hard  for  their  own  support  during  the  day. 

Dr.    Ayres In   Cincinnati   we    have  found    that    the   plain  visitors 

sometimes  do  the  most  excellent  work,  and  we  have  been  able  to  bring 
them  into  conferences  with  people  of  higher  social  culture  with  admira- 
ble effect. 


^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  3 1 

Mrs.  Haves  of  Texas. — I  want  to  say  that  you  have  all  been  on  the 
top  oi  the  ladder,  but  we  have  commenced  at  the  lower  round.  Our 
city  is  small  and  it  is  a  very  simple  thing  to  have  friendly  visitors  in  a 
small  city.  In  all  our  organizations,  as  I  have  said  before,  it  is  dis- 
tine-tTy  understood  when  we  join  that  friendly  visiting  is  a  part  of  our 
duy^e^.'  Our  president,  or  whoever  is  at  the  head  of  the  organization, 
appoints  a  committee,  and  that  committee  (that  is,  in  several  societies 
that  I  belong  to)  appoints  the  friendly  visitors,  taking  them  from  those 
who  are  the  most  capable,  having  most  of  the  requisite  qualifications. 
~~'*Mr.  De  Forest. — I  spoke  about  the  question  of  getting  friendly 
visitors,  and  said  that  in  my  judgment  success  depended  on  the  man- 
agement. I  do  not  want  any  better  illustration  of  the  truth  of  that  con- 
clusion than  what  was  said  by  Miss  Frances  Smith.  She  showed,  in  an 
admirable  manner,  what  good  management  is.  Perhaps  it  is  not  our 
fault  if  we  cannot  obtain  equally  good  management.  We  deal  with 
men  as  we  find  them  and  take  what  management  we  can  get.  There  is 
another  conclusion,  which  may  occur  to  the  minds  of  some  members  of 
the  conference,  namely,  that  the  trouble  in  cities  other  than  Boston  is 
possibly  this,  that  the  Smith  family  is  not  large  enough. 

The  section  then  adjourned. 


THIRD  SESSION. — Tuesday  Eveninc,  June  i31h,  1893. 

Robert  VV.  De  Forest,  Esq.,  of  New  York  in  the  Chair. 

The  Chairman. — As  you  see  from  the  programmes  the  special  topic 
to-night  is  the  Relation  of  Public  to  Private  Charity,  and  the  first 
paper  will  be  that  of  Miss  Louisa  L.  Schuyler,  of  New  York,  entitled 
''Voluntary  Unofficial  Supervision  of  Public  Charitable  Institutions  in 
Co-operation  with  Official  Boards." 

This  is  a  description  of  the  work  which  has  been  accomplished  by  the 
State  Charities  Aid  Association  of  New  York,  and  having  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  read  it,  I  will  say  that  it  is  very  interesting.  It  is  a  history  of 
what  a  single  society  has  done,  yet  it  has  a  broad  interest.  It  is  an 
object  lesson,  showing  what  can  be  accomplished  by  a  comparatively 
small  body  of  earnest  men  and  women.  I  take  great  pleasure  in  intro- 
ducing to  you  Miss  Schuyler. 

Miss  Schuyler,  of  New  York. — The  subject  of  my  paper  is  Volun- 
tary Unofficial  Supervision  of  Public  Charitable  Institutions  in  Co-oper- 
ation with  Official  Boards.  I  am  obliged  to  add  that  owing  to  a  weak 
voice  I  am  not  able  to  read  it.      I  will  therefore  ask  Mr.  Wilcox  to  do  so. 

Mr.  Ansley  Wilcox  then  read  the  paper.  At  its  conclusion,  the  fol- 
lowing remarks  were  made  : 


32  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

The  Chairman. — We  have  with  us  Mr.  Oscar  Craig,  President  of  the 
Board  of  State  Charities  of  New  York,  the  official  organization  of  the 
state.     I  will  ask  him  to  speak  a  few  words  if  he  will. 

Mr.  Craig. — The  paper  which  you  have  heard  needs  no  commenda- 
tion;  the  statements  commend  themselves;  they  are  simply  statements 
of  facts.      I  shall  confine  my  remarks  to  one  topic  introduced  by  this 
paper — the  appointment  of  visitors  with  authority  to  go  into  the  institu- 
tions of  the   state.      The   State   Board   of  Charities   has   the  power  by 
statute  to  appoint  visitors  in  every  county  of  the  state  to  go  to  the  elee- 
mosynary  and   correctional    institutions  of  the   state,    which  are   not 
controlled  by  the  state  government.      That  includes  500  corporations. 
The  State  Charities  Aid  Association  has   the  power  to  apply  to  the  Jus- 
tice of  the  Supreme   Court  for   the  appointment  of  visitors  to   all  the 
charitable  institutions  of  the  state,  except  private  corporations.    During 
my  experience   of  fourteen  years   as   a   member   of  the   State  Board  of 
Charities  and  of  several  years  as  its  president,  I  have  learned  that  visit- 
ing, in  the  several  counties  of  the   state,  can  be  better  accomplished 
under  the  supervision  of  a  voluntary  organization,  the  << State  Charities 
Aid  Association,"  than  by  the  official  body,  the  "State  Board  of  Chari- 
ties;" therefore  for  several  years  I  recommended   that  the  visitors  ap- 
pointed by  our  board  should  be,  by  voluntary  consent,  transferred  from 
our  board  to  the  voluntary  association.     That  has  been  accomplished 
in  most  of  the  districts  of  the  state;  and   in  my  own  district  (for  which 
I  am  primarily  responsible)   it  has  been  accomplished    in  every  county 
except  one.      An  official  body  is  limited  by  its  official  dignity.      It  can- 
not go  to  the  public  press  and  proclaim  abuses  and  evils  as  a  voluntary 
organization  can.      The  State  Board  of  Charities,  an  official  body  with 
power  to  examine  under  oath  and  report  to  the  state  legislature,  might 
be  compromised  by  the  opinions  expressed   in    the  public  press,  before 
such  examination  had  taken  place;  but  there  is  no  such  limitation  to  a  vol- 
untary organization.      This  paper  is,    indeed,  an  object  lesson  for  other 
states;  every  state  which  has  such   an   official  body  as  a  State  Board  of 
Charities,  should   interest  itself  in  securing  also  a  voluntary  association 
like  the  State  Charities  Aid  Association  of  New  York. 

The  Chairman. — I  ask  General  Brinkerhoff,  Chairman  of  the  State 
Board  of  Charities  of  Ohio,  to  step  to  the  platform  and  speak  a  few 
minutes. 

General  Brinkerhoff  of  Ohio. — I  have  been  familiar  for  many 
years  with  the  splendid  work  done  by  the  State  Charities  Aid  Asso- 
ciation of  New  York,  and  perhaps  for  New  York  it  is  the  best  form; 
but  in  Ohio  (and  perhaps  in  other  states  without  a  dominant  city 
like  New  York)  I  think  we  have  a  better  method  of  reaching  the 
same  end.  This  is  the  Ohio  system.  A  law  requires  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  in  each  county  to  appoint  a  Board  of  County  Visitors, 
consisting  of  six  persons,  three  men  and  three  women,  and  not  more 
than  three  of  each  party,  and   they  are   required    to   visit  all  the  places 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION. 


33 


of  charities  and  correction  in  the  county  where  they  belong.  They 
have  jjie  power  to  visit  them  at  least  four  times  during  the  year;  in  fact 
they  make  many  more  visits.  They  report  to  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  once  a  year,  and  they  send  the  report  also  to  the  Board  of  State 
Charities.  The  courts  also  require  that  whenever  any  child  is 
to  bairprt)ceeded  against,  in  order  that  it  may  be  sent  to  a  reformatory, 
notice  shall  be  given  to  the  Board  of  County  Visitors,  who  shall  ap- 
point a  guardian  ad  litem  for  the  child. 

We  have  held  two  annual  conferences  on  the  subject  of  charities  and 
correction,  and  have  gathered  audiences  as  large  as  this  and  some- 
times larger.  The  annual  reports  of  these  conferences  are  published, 
and  are  weighty  and  useful.  I  could  talk  to  you  by  the  hour  of  what 
has  been  accomplished  by  these  boards  of  county  visitors;  they  are 
appointed  for  two  years,  and  two  members  go  out  each  year.  The 
judges  take  the  greatest  interest  in  these  matters.  We  have  eighty- 
eight  counties  in  the  state,  and  you  may  imagine  the  result. 

The  Chairman. — The  next  paper  is  by  Mrs.  Benjamin  Williams  of 
New  Jersey,  on  the  State  Charities  Aid  Association  of  New  Jersey. 

This  was  followed  by  a  paper  by  Mr.  Alexander  Johnson,  of  In- 
•diana,  on  the  Co-operation  of  Public  with  Private  Charitable  Agencies. 


FOURTH  SESSION.— Junk  14TH,   1893,  2.15  P.  M. 

John  M.  Glenn,  Esq.,  of  Baltimore,  in  the  Chair. 

The  Chairman. — The  first  paper  is  by  Mrs.  Charles  R.  Lowell  of 
New  York,  entitled  "Are  Labor  Colonies  needed  in  the  United  States," 
which  will  be  read  by  Miss  Richmond  of  Baltimore. 

At  its  conclusion,  the  following  remarks  were  made: 

The  Chairman. — I  ask  Dr.  Warner  to  give  his  views  of  this  paper 
and  to  tell  us  also  something  of  his  work  in  Washington  in  connection 
with  the  municipal  lodging  house  of  that  city. 

Dr.  Warner,  lately  of  Washington  and  now  of  California. — Those 
who  remember  Mrs.  Lowell's  paper  at  the  St.  Louis  conference  will  ob- 
serve that  to-day  she  has  presented  almost  exactly  the  same  view  of 
the  pauper  treatment  of  the  male  vagrant  that  she  then  presented  of 
the  treatment  of  vagrant  men  and  women.  The  central  thought  which 
she  has  given  us  is  expressed  in  the  phrase  "sterilization  of  the  unfit," 
the  idea  being  to  prevent  by  segregation  their  increase  in  the  com- 
munity; while  their  lives  will  be  attended  to  with  great  kindness,  their 
stock  shall  end  with  their  death.  As  to  the  character  of  the  unem- 
ployed in  this  country,  as  she  states  it,  those  who  have  worked  with 
free  labor  bureaus,  or  have  sought  in  other  ways  to  find  employment  for 
the  unemployed,  will  agree  with  her  estimate  of  the  character  of  the 
3 


34  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

unemployed  in  this  country.  At  least  they  will  agree  that  it  is  very 
nearly  correct.  When  a  gentleman  of  Brooklyn  was  asked  if  he  found 
it  difficult  to  find  work  for  the  faithful  and  efficient  he  said  "yes,  for 
the  faithful;  yes,  for  the  efficient;  but  for  the  faithful  and  efficient,  no." 
That  is  a  conclusion  similar  to  what  is  set  forth  in  Mrs.  Lowell's  paper. 
Those  who  have  simply  thought  about  the  matter  and  have  seen  but  a 
few  of  the  unemployed  at  their  back  doors,  and  have  perhaps  had  but 
a  very  brief  acquaintance  with  them,  may  feel  that  there  is  some  injus- 
tice where  faithful  and  efficient  men  cannot  find  work.  We  must  not 
jump  at  the  conclusion  that  they  are  efficient.  The  industrial  condi- 
tions that  existed  years  ago  may  have  thrown  the  faithful  men  out  of 
work,  and  idleness  may  have  become  a  habit;  so  if  you  come  to  deal 
with  them,  you  will  find  that  they  are  not  faithful.  At  the  same  time 
we  cannot  say  that  it  is  the  fault  of  the  individuals,  but  the  result  of 
their  environment,  and  that  they  are  out  of  harmony  with  their  en- 
vironment. And  we  can  but  feel  that  their  inefficiency  must  be  recog- 
nized. 

It  seems  to  me  that  Mrs.  Lowell  ignores  one  function  of  the  labor 
colony.  She  says  in  this  country  we  do  not  have  faithful  and  efficient 
men  who  are  out  of  work;  and  second,  the  unfaithful  men  will  not 
stay  in  the  colony;  and  third,  the  function  of  the  labor  colony  as  it 
exists  in  Germany  is  that  of  oppression  to  the  community.  There  are 
places  where  men  will  be  given  hard  work  for  little  pay,  and  that  should 
be  the  rule  of  action  of  these  colonies.  The  great  army  of  tramps  of 
this  country  (and  I  have  seen  a  new  genus  on  the  Pacific  Coast)  should 
be  put  at  reformative  work  and  long  sentences.  •  People  have  been 
harping  on  this  ever  since  Howard  wrote  about  it  a  hundred-  years  ago. 
This  needs  to  be  taken  hold  of  in  a  practical  way  by  those  who  appreci- 
ate the  condition  of  the  criminals.  The  jails  are  thoroughly,  essen- 
tially and  entirely  bad  in  most  counties  of  the  United  States.  The 
longer  sentence  and  reformatory  work  should  be  introduced.  That  will 
do  more  to  discourage  tramping  and  vagrancy  than  anything  else.  As 
to  the  city  work  in  Washington  I  do  not  care  to  speak  about  that;  what 
is  to  be  said  of  it,  will  be  found  in  the  Charities  Review.  It  is  better 
to  keep  the  subjects  separate. 

Mr.  L.  L.  Barbour. — In  Michigan  we  have  a  colony  without  the  labor 
attachment,  and  we  have  poor-houses  without  any  labor  attachment.  In 
February  or  March  between  three  and  four  hundred  inmates  were  in 
our  poor-house  who  had  been  there  most  of  the  winter.  The  physician 
and  an  officer  of  the  State  Board  went  out  to  investigate  the  poor-house. 
It  was  suggested  that  they  ascertain  how  many  inmates  of  the  institu- 
tion were  able  bodied.  After  a  thorough  investigation  made,  both 
men  concluded  that  at  least  one  hundred  of  the  four  hundred  inmates 
were  perfectly  capable  and  able  to  earn  their  own  living.  It  was  found 
that  in  a  large  quantity  of  cord -wood  in  the  yard  adjacent  to  the  poor- 
house,  some  150  cords  had  been  cut,  but  not  sawn  up.     The  keeper  of 


^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  35 

the  poor-house  was  asked  if  the  men  did  not  have  any  work;  and 
replied-,  "They  wouldn't  do  any  work."  It  was  suggested  that  he  tell 
them'  after  breakfast  the  next  morning  to  go  out  and  saw  a  given 
quantity  of  that  wood  before  they  could  have  any  dinner.  The  next 
day  tie  informed  the  two  visitors  that  eighty-seven  took  to  the  road  im- 
medis^dy  after  breakfast.  If  some  provision  of  that  kind  could  be  pre- 
scribed for  this  class  of  laborers,  (of  whom  we  find  so  many  in  our  poor- 
houses  during  the  winter  throughout  the  country,)  it  would  undoubtedly 
relieve,  us  of  this  class. 

^'l^liss  Ames. — I  met  an  American  who  had  traveled  in  thirty-two 
states  for  eight  months  as  a  tramp;  he  said  he  did  it  "to  make  a  study 
of  sociology."  This  gentleman  said  he  estimated  that  there  were  about 
50,000  professional  tramps  in  the  United  States.  I  asked  him  how  he 
lived  during  this  period;  he  said  "I  lived  just  as  well  as  you  do;  I  never 
lived  better  in  my  life."  At  one  time  in  Milwaukee  he  tried  to  see  how 
many  dinners  he  could  get;  he  got  four  dinners  and  then  he  stopped. 
He  said  they  gave  what  they  call  "Hand-ouLs,"  and  they  gave  out  what 
they  call  "Sit-downs."  He  said  as  long  as  they  did  that,  these  tramps 
continued  to  be  tramps.  He  had  never  found  a  single  tramp  who  could 
not  read  or  write,  and  he  had  found  three  college  graduates.  He  said 
he  was  thrown  in  jail  for  sleeping  on  a  freight  car.  He  said  that  with 
exceptions,  the  jails  are  just  as  bad  as  possible.  I  think  he  spoke  of 
Pennsylvania  as  a  perfect  paradise  for  tramps.  I  learned  a  great  many 
valuable  points  from  him  on  this  subject. 

I  have  visited  the  labor  colony  in  North  Berlin;  there  it  was  not  com- 
pulsory with  the  inmates  to  stay,  yet  they  were  not  allowed  to  come  and 
go  as  they  pleased;  if  they  wanted  to  look  for  work,  they  were  allowed 
to  do  so.  Many  of  the  inmates  there  were  well  educated,  and  one  was 
a  man  of  rank:  some  had  been  brought  down  by  drink  or  had  fallen 
through  some  other  means.  They  were  there  working  for  very  small 
wages;  among  other  things  at  brush-making.  I  tasted  the  soup  allowed 
them  and  it  was  excellent.  This  was  one  of  twenty-two  labor  com- 
munities which  have  been  started  with  varying  success  in  Germany. 

Dr.  Ayres. — I  would  like  to  ask  how  the  deficiency  was  made  up  if 
the  colonies  were  not  self-supporting  ? 

The  Speaker. — I  think  a  part  came  from  private  funds  and  a  part 
from  the  state. 

Dr.  Ayres. — Under  whose  control  was  the  colony?  Of  a  society  or  of 
the  state? 

The  Speaker. — I  cannot  answer  definitely. 

Dr.  Ayres. — Most  of  us  who  have  had  experience  in  dealing  with 
homeless  men  and  homeless  women  try  to  find  work  for  these  people; 
we  do  find  work  for  them,  and  they  work  while  the  spasm  of  goodness 
lasts.  1  suppose  most  of  you  have  noticed  that  they  do  have  these 
spasms  of  goodness  and  that  during  that  time  they  are  very  good  indeed. 
If  we  have  a  jjlace  where  men  can  come  for  a   few  days  and   get   their 


36  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

living  by  hard  work,  and  then  pass  on  to  the  next  city,  that  may  be  bad 
for  the  men  and  for  the  city.  Let  me  give  one  or  two  illustrations.  I 
knew  some  young  fellows  who  were  in  the  Cleveland  wood-yards  where 
they  have  to  work  hard,  and  I  have  seen  them  saw  wood  before  they 
could  get  a  night's  lodging.  Some  of  them  would  stay  in  the  wood-yard 
five  days,  and  when  they  had  stood  it  as  long  as  they  could  and  found 
it  was  getting  to  be  real  work,  they  came  to  Cincinnati;  but  when  it  got 
to  be  cold  weather  they  went  back  to  Cleveland  where  they  could  get 
food  and  lodging  by  hard  work.  You  heard  Mr.  Johnson  say  that  when 
he  first  established  the  wood-yard  in  Chicago  he  found  a  man  from  the 
country  who  came  to  Chicago  and  spent  the  winter  at  hard  labor,  be- 
cause he  said  he  would  have  to  work  hard  on  the  farm  and  he  thought  it 
was  preferable  to  spend  the  winter  in  Chicago,  even  if  he  did  work  hard. 
It  is  hard  to  say  where  the  evil  begins  and  where  the  good  commences. 
I  feel  as  if  we  had  made  more  progress  in  dealing  with  fallen  women 
than  we  have  with  fallen  men.    ' 

The  Chairman. — I  ask  Miss  Rogers,  one  of  the  Overseers  of  the  Poor 
of  Boston,  to  tell  us  of  their  work  in  Boston. 

Miss  A.  P.  Rogers. — We  have  in  Boston  a  free  lodging  house  for  men, 
a  temporary  home;  and  they  work  in  the  wood -yard  which  is  attached  to 
the  home.  They  are  obliged  to  cut  and  saw  and  split  wood  in  a  certain 
quantity  for  a  night's  lodging.  We  had  last  year  32,000  lodgers.  This 
includes  duplication,  for  a  good  many  men  come  over  and  over  again. 
Much  care  is  taken  in  finding  work  for  these  men,  and  therefore  a  good 
many  of  them  come  many  times  in  the  winter.  The  rule  of  the  home  is 
that  the  men  should  not  stay  there  over  three  days,  but  a  few,  old  men 
and  incompetent,  are  allowed  to  stay  longer.  We  also  have  a  temporary 
home  for  women  where  women  can  come,  generally  towards  night,  and 
receive  lodging  of  the  most  simple  kind,  and  the  plainest  of  food,  and 
for  that  they  do  the  work  of  the  house, — a  certain  amount  of  cleaning 
and  washing  for  the  home.  They  also  bake  all  the  bread  of  the  two 
institutions.  They  may  stay  in  the  home  a  week  or  sometimes  longer, 
if  the  matron  has  a  good  reason  for  keeping  them.  They  come  there  to 
find  work  and  at  times  we  find  work  for  them,  but  they  generally  find 
work  for  themselves.  The  women  have  not  been  very  successfully  sup- 
plied with  work  until  lately;  now  there  is  a  more  strict  rule,  and  we  are 
endeavoring  to  find  out  the  character  of  the  women  who  come.  Until 
last  year  we  have  never  known  definitely  how  many  have  come.  Last 
year  we  knew  that  1,283  different  women  came  to  the  home  and  744 
children.  The  statistics  will  show  that  out  of  the  1,283  women,  587 
came  the  first  time  that  year,  and  that  802  came  only  once  during 
the  whole  year;  223  of  the  women  who  came,  had  been  in  the  Home 
••'on  and  off"  since  1882,  so  that  the  labor  test  had  not  kept  them  from 
being  constant  habitues  at  the  home. 

A  Delegate. — How  long  do  you  allow  the  women  to  stay? 


^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  37 

The  Speaker. — Not  more  than  seven  days  whhout  some  good  reason; 
there ^re  many  women  who  are  incompetent  and  the  matron,  who  knows 
them  well,  often  allows  them  to  stay  longer. 

A  Delegate. — I  wish  to  ask  what  per  cent,  of  the  cost  is  paid  by  the 
allo-w^nce  for  the  wood-yard? 

Xhe-SPEAKER. — The  wood  account  is  kept  by  itself;  the  wood-yard 
simply  pays  its  running  expenses. 

A  Delegate. — It  does  not  jjay  all  the  running  expenses,  does  it? 

The  Speaker. — No. 
"'"'The  Chairman. — We  have  the  good  fortune  to  have  with  us  the  Rev. 
E,  J.  Dupuy  of  the   Maison   Hospitaliere,  Paris,  France.      We  shall  be 
glad  if  he  will  kindly  tell  us  about  this  work. 

Mr.  Dupuy  of  Paris. — We  have  in  Paris  what  we  call  a  hospital 
house;  you  might  almost  call  it  a  home.  Two  Englishmen  came  to 
Paris  and  lost  their  papers  and  money.  The  police  did  not  know  what 
to  do  with  them;  so  they  were  sent  to  a  ])astor,  who  thought  he  would 
start  a  liouse  for  such  men.  He  put  one  in  as  superintendent  and  the 
other  as  chief  clerk  and  opened  a  small  house.  We  have  a  like  system 
in  other  cities  in  France.  Men  are  taken  in  and  the  first  day  are  set 
to  chopping  wood.  Usually  there  are  about  50  per  cent,  of  these  men 
that  will  take  lunch  the  first  day  and  will  quit  the  next  morning,  because 
they  do  not  want  to  work.  Of  the  other  half  there  are  many  who  re- 
main longer.  Some  prefer  to  go  away  after  two  or  three  days,  and  it 
is  very  rare  to  keep  them  in  our  house  more  than  a  week.  We  keep  a 
few  of  them  a  fortnight,  and  some  of  them  have  remained  there  a  month; 
two  of  them  have  actually  been  in  the  house  two  years.  They  are  em- 
ployed as  a  foreman  and  as  a  collector  of  bills.  Almost  all  have  had 
some  difficulty  with  justice  and  have  a  prison  record;  some  have  been 
forgers  and  burglars,  l)ut  some  are  good  men  who  have  been  led  astray 
by  drink  and  bad  habits.  This  house  has  just  been  enlarged  through 
the  liberality  of  some  friends  and  can  accommodate  from  fifty  to  a  hun- 
dred men.  Very  many  have  been  attracted  to  the  large  cities  by  the 
wood-yards.  In  1878,  1879  and  1880,  when  a  number  of  people  were 
frozen  to  death  in  the  streets  because  they  had  no  home,  the  private 
charities  opened  "asylums;"  applicants  were  obliged  to  give  their  name 
and  the  state  whence  they  came,  and  they  could  have  free  lodging  for 
three  days.  Immediately  the  number  of  tramps  and  beggars  increased  in 
Paris.  Since  then  they  have  opened  wood-yards  and  the  number  still 
increases.  In  the  case  of  women  it  is  ([uite  different;  we  would  not 
keep  a  tramp  twenty-four  hours,  but  with  a  woman  it  is  cpiite  different, 
especially  in  France,  where  they  have  the  law  against  them.  When 
we  can  keep  her  we  do  so,  and  give  her  moral  strength  and  courage 
and  help  her  along,  and  then  she  is  sent  out  into  the  country.  We 
have  laundries  for  the  women.  The  Sisters  of  St.  Charles  are  work- 
ing with  us,  the  police  take  great  pleasure  in  helping  us,  and  even 
the  state  gives   us  money.      In   Marseilles   they   give    them    a  certain 


4J20.1RO 


38  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

amount  and  tell  them  to  go  and  lodge  in  town.  This  is  simply  giving 
an  income  to  vagrants  and  sometimes  to  the  most  disreputable  men. 
I  think  no  money  ought  to  be  allowed  to  these  people,  because  when 
they  have  no  more  money  they  will  try  to  find  work.  Whereas,  if  they 
are  given  fifteen  or  twenty  cents,  they  know  where  to  get  rooms  for 
four  cents,  and  they  have  sixteen  cents  to  enjoy  themselves  with.  But 
what  are  we  going  to  do  with  these  men?  In  November  and  Decem- 
ber of  last  winter  I  saw  more  than  300  men  pass  through  these  houses. 
Of  these  300  men  I  am  sure  that  about  250  had  been  in  jail,  on  an  aver- 
age, from  six  to  twelve  months.  The  wood-yards  are  very  good  now, 
but  I  think  they  will  be  later  on  a  source  of  evil. 

Mr.  Paton. — I  am  free  to  confess,  after  a  winter's  study  of  the  chari- 
ties of  London,  that  in  x\merica  we  are  very  far  behind  the  English  in  the 
matter  of  labor  tests,  but  in  some  respects  I  think  we  excel.     Our  charity 
organizations  and   societies,   particularly   in  New  York   (the  ones  with 
which  I  am  most  acquainted),  are  far  superior  to  anything  they  have  in 
England;   but  I  am  free  to  say  that  we  come  far  short  of  LonSon  and 
other  parts  of  Europe  in  the  matter  of  labor  tests.      Let  me  give  you  an 
instance.      The   New   York   Poor    Association   is   very   far   from    being 
wholly  a  relief  society.      The  relief   work   is  the  smallest   part  of  the 
ojjeration.      For  example,  we  have  the  baths.      We  can  give  a  thousand 
baths  a  day.      I  think  in  the  hot  weather  we  can  come  up  to  that.      We 
are  sending  25,000  people  down  to  Coney  Island  to  get  a  change  of  air 
and  the  sea  breeze;  we  are  opening  convalescent  homes  for  sick  children; 
but  we  are  doing  very  little  in  the  matter  of  labor  tests,  and  that  is  one 
reason  why  I  went  to  Europe  and  spent  a  good  part  of  last  winter  in  the 
slums  of  London,  although  I  did  not  attempt  to  go  through  Loch's  hand- 
book of  charities,  for  there  are  1,100  charities  in  London  described  in  that 
work.      In  this  matter  of  labor  tests  I  should  unhesitatingly  place  at  the 
head  of  the  list  the  large  army  of  high  church  ritualists.      We  have  our 
wood-yards  in   New  York,  and   I  am   thankful   to   Mr.  Kellogg   for  his 
wood-yard,  but  I  hope  he  will  have  something  a  thousand   times  better 
in   the  labor  homes.     They  are  carrying  on  twenty  different  kinds  of 
industries.      Every  man,  as  far  as  possible,  is  put  to  the  kind  of  work 
for  which  he  is  most  fit.      In  one  of  these  homes  I  saw  three  men — one 
a  broken  down   lawyer,  one  a  minister,  and   the  third  a  valet.      They 
carried  on  twenty  or  thirty  different  kinds  of  work  in  this   labor  home, 
and  every  man   there  has   to   work,  and  work  hard,  just  as  if  he  were 
earning  daily  wages.      He   is  kept  five  or  six  months  until  they  make  a 
man  of  him.      Of  course  he  can  go  out  at  any  moment  if  he  so  chooses.. 
In  London  there  were  admirable  "rescue  homes,"  of  which  one  at  least 
is  limited  to  sixteen  girls,  in  order  that  every  girl  may  be  a  study  to  the 
matron.     I  think  there  are  fifteen  or  sixteen  of  those  schools  in  London. 
Next  to  the  two  mstitutions  I  have  spoken  of  comes  Booth's  social 
wing    of  the   Salvation   Army;   I   visited    it;   there   are    every  night  in 
London  about  500  men  and  women  under  their  roofs;   they  gather  them 


.^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  39 

into  the  shelter;  each  man  is  supposed  to  pay  two  pence;  they  get  a 
leather! mattress  to  sleep  on  and  two  good  meals,  and  there  is' a  rousing 
meeting  going  on  in  the  adjoining  room,  to  which  they  are  invited  but 
not  compelled  to  go.  They  have  their  "elevators,"  and  here  comes  in 
the  i»^t  successful  part  of  the  social  army;  the  elevator  is  a  place  where 
the)^^^t*l4e  a  man  from  the  gutter  and  put  him  upon  his  feet  and  try  to 
make  him  a  useful  member  of  society.  There  is  a  constant  invitation  to 
go  into  the  "elevator." 

A  successful  industry  is  what  they  call  "cabinet-making;"  they  make 
a-H-'the  furniture,  bookcases,  etc.,  needed  by  the  Salvation  Army,  be- 
sides a  vast  deal  for  sale.      I  have  not  the  statistics  with  me. 

Mr.  Wilcox  of  Buffalo. — If  this  subject  is  still  open  for  discussion,  I 
would  like  to  say  what  occurred  to  me  in  listening  to  the  very  interest- 
ing remarks  of  Mr.  Paton.  I  suppose  the  idea  which  is  embodied  in 
the  phrase  labor  test  is  a  twofold  idea,  starting  with  the  proposition 
that  there  are  certain  classes  of  men  in  the  community  who  belong 
to  the  general  class  of  tramps  and  beggars,  who  claim  that  they 
cannot  get  work  to  do.  Such  a  person  must  be  furnished  with  work 
which  he  can  do,  and  with  a  compensation  for  it  which  will  save  him 
from  immediate  starvation;  but  if  you  give  him  a  fair  compensation 
for  the  work  he  does,  it  ceases  to  be  "a  test."  Now,  of  course,  the 
circumstances  which  Mr.  Paton  has  described  do  not  apply  to  the  class 
that  is  underpaid.  In  Buffalo  we  have  never  succeeded  in  establishing 
a  labor  test.  We  tried  the  wood-yard,  but  that  work  is  exceedingly 
simple;  anybody  can  do  it;  in  fact  so  far  as  I  know  there  are  only 
three  kinds  of  work  that  have  ever  been  suggested  as  "a  test,"  sawing 
wood,  breaking  stone  and  cleaning  streets.  If  there  is  any  other 
kind  of  work  that  is  more  simple,  I  do  not  know  what  it  is.  We 
successfully  established  a  wood-yard  about  twelve  years  ago.  We 
raised  the  necessary  sum  of  money  and  started  with  an  overseer,  and  we 
said  that  we  would  furnish  a  man  with  a  day's  work  at  a  rate  which 
would  save  him  from  starvation.  That  worked  well  for  a  short  time, 
but  we  soon  found  that  we  had  a  large  stock  of  wood  left  on  our  hands; 
we  were  entirely  unable  to  sell  our  wood.  The  use  of  natural  gas, 
which  has  met  the  demand  for  kindling  wood,  is  now  so  common,  that 
we  find  it  impossible  to  run  a  wood-yard  on  a  large  scale.  VV^e  still 
have  what  we  call  our  wood-yard,  and  we  have  arrangements  with 
local  dealers  by  which  they  will  employ  a  limited  number  of  men,  and 
we  keep  it  up  on  a  very  limited  scale,  but  we  have  been  swamped  and 
have  a  great  deal  of  wood  which  we  cannot  sell  at  all. 

The  meeting  then  adjourned. 


^ 


PAPERS 


ON  THE 


WORK    AND    RROBLKA4S 


OF 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION 


IN    THE 


UNITED  STATES. 


HISTORY    OF    CHARITY    ORGANIZATION    IN    THE    UNITED 

STATES. 

1872— 1893. 

BY  CHARLES  D.    KELLOGG,    SECRETARY  OF  THE  CHARITY  ORGANIZATION 

SOCIETY  OF  NEW  YORK."^ 


Under  more  than  a  score  of  names  there  may  be  enumerated  ninety- 
two  associations  in  the  United  States  and  the  Dominion  of  Canada  as 
in  existence  in  1893,  which  profess  loyalty  to  the  principles  character- 
istic of  the  movement  known  as  the  Organization  of  Charity.  Of  the 
Avhole  number  sixty-five  have  made  returns,  with  widely  varying  pre- 
cision and  completeness,  to  the  "Committee  on  the  History  of  Charity 
Organization"  of  this  Conference,  and  upon  these  returns  this  report  is 
based. 

History. 

Conditions  Twenty  Years  Ago. — -Twenty  years  ago,  in  the  sense  of  an 
agency  for  liringing  charitable  and  municipal  relief  organizations  into 
concert  of  action,  there  were  no  Charity  Organization  Societies  in 
America.  There  were,  in  many  cities,  voluntary  general  relief  societies 
professedly  ready  to  undertake  any  sort  of  humane  task  within  their 
ability.  In  some  instances  they  laid  claim  to  most  approved  maxims 
of  work,  but  as  they  were  invariably  distributors  of  material  aid  this 
function  submerged  all  others,  and  they  sank  into  the  sea  of  common 
almsgiving,  appealing  to  their  patrons  for  support  on  the  ground  that 
the  money  given  to  them  would  enable  them  to  enlarge  the  number  of 
their  beneficiaries  or  increase  the  amount  of  their  gifts,  and  attracting 
the  needy  to  their  doors  with  the  hope  of  loaves  and  fishes.  In  many 
quarters  there  was  no  lack  of  judicious  reasoning,  or  of  admission  that 

*This  is  an  abstract  of  a  paper  prepared  by  Mr.  Kellogg  as  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  charity  organization  of  the  twentieth  National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction- 
The  paper  is  published  in  full  in  the  report  of  that  conference. 


44  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

the  moral  nature  and  the  social  lot  of  the  poor  were  large  factors  in  the 
problem  of  pauperism;  but  the  efforts  to  extirpate  it  were  feeble  and 
incidental,  not  dominant.  On  every  side  the  current  of  public  senti- 
ment was  that  every  penny  spent  in  administration  was  so  much  ab- 
stracted from  the  poor,  and  that  the  best  management  was  that  which 
entailed  the  least  cost  in  getting  bread  and  soup  to  the  hungry,  and 
shelter,  fuel,  and  clothing  to  the  cold. 

Relief  Tiventy  Years  Ago. — The  practice  of  legal  or  public  out-door 
relief  differed  greatly  in  different  communities.  But  from  every  quarter 
testimony  arises  that  the  system  was  without  adequate  safeguards  of 
investigation,  tests  of  destitution,  means  of  hindering  duplication  of 
relief  from  several  sources  simultaneously,  or  of  making  the  relief 
adequate  to  the  necessity.  Private  almsgiving  was  profuse  and  chaotic, 
while  still  behind  the  demands  made  upon  it;  and  was  dispersed  in 
tantalizing  doles,  miserably  inadequate  for  effectual  succor  where  the 
need  was  genuine,  and  dealt  out  broadcast  among  the  clamorous  and 
impudent.  Twenty  years  ago  those  in  the  United  States  who  thought 
that  the  function  of  relief  would  be  lifted  above  temporary  material  aid 
were  few  in  number  and  but  just  beginning  to  be  heard.  Indeed,  it 
is  the  industrial  depression  following  the  commercial  crisis  of  1873, 
throwing  multitudes  out  of  work  and  making  a  heavy  draft  upon  the 
benevolent,  which  seems  to  afford  the  starting  point  for  the  examination 
and  reformation  of  the  prevailing  methods  of  charity. 

Beginnings. — In  1872  the  nearest  approximation  to  charity  organi- 
zation to  be  found  in  the  United  States  was  the  Chardon  Street  Build- 
ing in  Boston,  erected  in  1869  by  joint  contributions  from  the  city 
and  personal  subscribers,  in  pursuance  of  a  plan  first  promulgated  by 
Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop  in  1857.  Under  its  roof  are  the  offices  of 
the  official  boards,  and  the  principal  voluntary  relief  societies  of  the 
city;  and  the  existence  of  this  building  facilitated  the  subsequent  syste- 
matic development  of  registration  and  co-operation  in  that  city. 

Charity  organization  had  independent  and  almost  simultaneous 
initiation  in  Buffalo,  New  Haven,  Boston,  Brooklyn,  Philadelphia  and 
two  or  three  other  cities,  an  account  of  which  is  given  in  the  full  re- 
port submitted  to  this  Conference,  but  which  the  brevity  of  time  allowed 
to  this  committee  forbids  us  to  read. 

This  movement  found  an  expression  of  its  unity  in  the  National  Con- 
ference of  Charities  and  Correction,  which  is  itself  an  outgrowth  of 
the  American  Social  Science  Association.      It  is  first  mentioned  in  the 


^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  45 

proceeding  of  the  Chicago  Conference  of  1879,  where  Mr.  Seth  Low 
preseTited  a  description  of  the  work  in  Brooklyn,  and  a  committee  was 
formed  to  report  upon  charity  organization.  Two  years  later,  at 
Bost(3l>7 .nineteen  societies  reported  to  the  Conference,  and  the  com- 
mitted grew  to  a  section,  which  published  a  separate  report  of  its  own 
proceedings. 

Suppression  of  Out-Door  Relief. — Simultaneously  with  the  begin- 
ning of  charity  organization,  and  promoted  by  the  same  men,  there 
was  a  repression,  in  important  cities,  of  official  out-door  relief.  Returns 
from  four  cities  for  that  time,  show  that  the  amount  saved  to  tax- 
payers in  1880,  was  $396,403.  This  event  attracted  wide  attention 
in  watchful  official  circles  and  was  the  beginning  of  a  wiser  administra- 
tion of  the  charitable  funds  raised  by  taxation  in  many  communities. 

Ten  Years  of  Growth. — In  1882,  there  were  twenty-two  charity 
organization  societies  known  to  exist  in  the  United  States,  and  ten 
others  which  had  adopted  some  of  the  leading  features  of  this  move- 
ment, and  were  enrolled  as  correspondents  with  the  former  societies. 
They  embraced  cities  and  towns  having  a  population  of  6,331,700,  or 
twelve  per  cent,  of  the  total  of  the  United  States,  and  among  them  were 
the  chief  centres  of  influence  in  the  country.  Of  these  societies  ten 
were  in  or  had  just  completed  the  first  year  of  their  operations,  admin- 
istering in  incorporated  populations  of  2,363,138.  From  this  point 
it  is  practicable  to  make  tables  and  comparisons  which  exhibit  the 
growth  of  the  charity  organization  movement  in  the  United  States. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1892,  there  were  ninety-two  charity  orga- 
nization and  affiliated  societies,  an  increase  of  two  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  per  cent,  in  ten  years  ;  and  they  were  located  in  cities 
and  towns  comprising  a  population  estimated  at  11,080,766.  In 
nearly  every  instance  the  motive  leading  to  these  organizations  is 
declared  to  have  been  discontent  with  the  prodigality  and  efficiency  of 
public  relief,  and  the  chaotic  state  of  private  charity. 

Ttiw  Types. — Classified  by  their  relation  to  almsgiving,  twenty-five 
report  that  they  do  not  give  material  relief  from  their  own  funds  ; 
twenty  that  they  do  relieve  ;  nine,  that  they  do  so  only  in  emergent 
cases,  and  of  these  two  say  they  do  so  in  order  to  avoid  official  out- 
relief.  In  188 1,  there  were  but  twelve  non-relieving  and  seven  reliev- 
ing societies  reporting. 

Lapsed  Societies. — It  is  known  to  this  committee  that  thirteen  charity 
organization   societies    have  been   formed   and   dissolved.       A   few  are 


46  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

practically  in  suspension.  Various  causes  may  be  assigned  for  the 
creation  of  this  delinquent  and  lapsed  list.  For  the  most  part  the 
nascent  society  yielded  to  the  opposition  of  the  friends  of  the  old 
system,  or  was  planted  on  a  community  not  prepared  to  compre- 
hend and  maintain  it.  Probably  the  lack  of  trained  and  capable 
superintendents,  and  of  suitable  friendly  visitors  prepared  to  bear 
the  restraints  of  charity  organization,  is  the  chief  cause  of  mis- 
carriage. 

On  Reports  from  Societies. — The  last  ten  years  of  the  history  of 
charity  organization,  the  amplified  report  will  exhibit  in  tabulated 
statistics  appended  thereto,  merely  calling  attention  to  their  salient 
points  and  results.  For  its  preparation  a  circular  letter  was  prepared 
and  sent  to  every  society  known  to  your  committee.  It  is  to  be 
regretted  that  many  of  the  returns  were  very  imperfect.  From  the 
material  furnished  the  following  exhibit  is  made  : 

Changes  of  Method. — Relief  Adopted: — In  a  movement  so  recent 
there  has  been  small  room  to  judge  of  the  effects  of  various  methods 
and  to  devise  new  plans  of  work.  There  are  three  distinct  phases  of 
development  to  be  detected  in  the  growth  of  their  work:  (i)  the 
adoption  of  material  relief;  (2)  the  abolition  or  reduction  of  such 
relief;  and  (3)  the  expansion  of  friendly  visiting  and  provident  enter- 
prises. Four  societies  report  a  change  from  organizing  and  co-opera- 
tive work  by  adding  thereto  the  distribution  of  some  form  of  alms. 
From  statements  made  to  us  the  inference  is  that  alms  relief  has  been 
for  the  most  part  taken  up  in  a  very  restricted  way,  and  but  few 
charity  organization  societies,  which  did  not  begin  with  it,  have  since 
adopted  it. 

Relief  Withheld. — On  the  other  hand,  several  of  our  societies  have 
distinctly  receded  from  the  work  of  material  relief,  to  seek  it  by  co- 
operation with  other  benevolent  agencies.  Notable  is  the  history  of 
Cincinnati  and  Detroit,  where  their  several  independent  district  asso- 
ciations were  abolished,  and  a  board  of  trustees  were  put  in  complete 
charge  of  the  administration.  From  the  important  city  of  Philadel- 
phia, where  the  society  began  with  its  sovereignty  lodged  in  ward  asso- 
ciations, the  report  comes  that  the  central  board  has  gained  in  influ- 
ence and  authority  over  the  ward  administration  and  is  now  enforcing 
the  charity  organization  theory  more  vigorously  than  was  possible  at 
first.  In  Pueblo  and  San  Francisco  direct  relief  has  receded,  and  been 
replaced  with  better  systems  of  investigation   and   co-operation   with 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  47 

Other  charitable  agencies.  Syracuse  has  restricted  its  material  relief 
to  the  merest  tiding  over  of  emergent  cases  until  some  judgment  can 
be  reached  on  the  better  disposition  of  an  applicant  for  aid,  and  this 
soci^ty'enrolls  itself  as  a  non-relieving  association. 

fiance. — In  extenuation  of  the  enormous  percentages  of  contribut- 
ing support,  it  must  be  remembered  that  this  review  embraces  only 
fourteen  organizations  in  1882,  several  ofvvhich  were  in  their  first  year, 
and  compares  them  with  fifty-four  societies  reporting  ten  years  later. 
In  the  last  ten  years  the  number  of  societies  trebled;  individual  con- 
tributors quadrupled ;  contributing  churches  and  societies  increased 
more  than  three  hundred  and  seven  per  cent.  The  income  of  forty- 
eight  societies  increased  three-fold  in  1892  over  that  of  seventeen  in 
1882,  and  reached  an  aggregate  of  $263,421.  Fourteen  societies 
report  the  beginning  of  invested  funds,  and  together  hold  property  and 
securities  valued  at  $409,038. 

Real  Estate. — Endowments  began  in  Buffalo  in  1880,  when  through 
the  generosity  of  a  single  individual  the  Fitch  Creche  was  established, 
at  a  cost  of  about  $40,000.  To  this  gift  Mr.  Benjamin  Fitch  added 
much  other  property,  conveying  it  by  deed  of  trust  to  the  society  for 
the  purpose  of  encouraging  provident  schemes.  The  Fitch  Institute, 
completed  in  1883,  not  only  affords  offices  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  society,  but  within  it  are  comprised  an  accident  hospital  and  a 
training-school  for  nursery  maids  and  domestic  servants.  Very  noble 
is  the  admirable  and  imposing  United  Charities  Building  of  New  York, 
erected  by  Mr.  John  S.  Kennedy,  and  dedicated  March  6th,  1893.  It 
was  deeded  to  four  of  the  principal  charity  societies  of  the  city,  who 
manage  it  through  a  board  of  trustees  chosen  by  them.  Each  has  an 
equal  share  in  the  use  and  income  of  the  structure,  and  one  of  these  is 
the  Charity  Organization  Society.  As  it  cost  over  $600,000,  the  equity 
of  this  society  is  valued  at  $150,000.  The  Charities  Building  in  Char- 
don  street,  Boston,  was  already  in  existence  when  the  Associated  Chari- 
ties of  that  city  were  organized,  and  here  that  society  has  always  had  its 
head(iuarters  free  of  rent.  The  Bridgeport  society  owns  a  building 
valued  at  $11,000;  that  of  Cleveland,  one  valued  at  $23,000,  and  New 
Haven  has  a  fund  of  $30,000  dedicated  to  a  like  purpose.  These  edi- 
fices are  centres  of  conference,  co-operation  and  exchanges  of  informa- 
tion, and  virtually  add  an  estimated  value  of  about  $220,000  to  the 
invested  resources  of  charity  organization  in  the  United  States,  making 
a  total  of  $630,000. 


48  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

Internal  Organization. — Fifty-two  societies  report  placing  in  the  field 
of  administration  and  personal  service  of  the  necessitous  in  1892  an 
army  of  5,476  men  and  women.  This  number  is  below  the  actual  fact, 
since  seventeen  of  the  societies  make  no  return  of  their  administrative 
officers,  and  eight,  none  of  their  friendly  visitors;  while  Philadelphia 
fails  to  enumerate  the  officers  and  visitors  of  its  eighteen  large  district 
societies,  with  which  several  hundred  visitors  are  connected.  The  total 
number  is  doubtless  over  6,000.  In  administrative  work  763,  men,  an 
increa.se  of  157  per  cent,  in  ten  years,  and  511  women,  an  increase  of 
220  per  cent.,  were  engaged  in  1892;  of  paid  officials  the  same  year 
there  were  seventy-seven  men  (increase  220  per  cent.)  and  135  women 
(increase  250  per  cent.)  in  the  service;  while  of  friendly  visitors  456 
men  (increase  1,400  per  cent.)  and  3,534  women  (increase  165  per 
cent.)  toiled  in  the  homes  or  over  the  ill  fortunes  of  applicants  for  aid. 
As  74,704  cases  came  under  the  notice  of  the  societies,  this  would  give 
an  average  of  17.6  cases  to  each  visitor,  a  number  altogether  too  large 
for  effective  work.  Fifteen  societies  control  one  hundred  subordinate 
district  conferences  or  associations,  and  twenty-nine  avail  themselves  of 
conferences  among  officers  and  visitors  to  consider  methods  in  the  dis- 
position to  be  made  of  cases.  The  conferences  range  from  weekly 
through  monthly  and  quarterly  sessions.  A  notable  example  of  kin-- 
dred  work  lasted  through  the  first  eight  years  of  the  Philadelphia  soci- 
ety. There  once  a  month  an  assembly  of  the  whole  society  was  held 
and  numerously  attended,  at  which  papers  were  read  and  practical  dis- 
cussions maintained  on  the  problems  of  charity;  and  the  effect  of  them 
was  incalculable  in  educating  the  workers,  and  even  the  community,  in 
a  sense  of  responsibility  for  their  poor  brothers  and  sisters. 

Lines  of  Work  Developed — Repression — Public  Out- door  Relief. — It 
would  be  gratifying,  if  the  statistics  were  to  be  had,  to  show  what  char- 
ity organization  has  done  directly  in  lightening  the  tax-payer's  burden; 
but  this  is  a  matter  of  minor  significance  compared  with  the  more 
humane  remedial  aims  of  the  movement.  Only  eight  societies  have 
supplied  definite  figures,  and  the  results  are  a  present  annual  reduction 
in  municipal  out-door  relief  in  Brooklyn,  Buffalo,  Burlington,  la., 
Hartford,  Conn.,  Indianapolis,  New  Haven,  Conn.,  Omaha,  Philadel- 
phia, Syracuse  and  Taunton,  Mass.,  of  $409,480.  There  has  been  no 
out-door  public  relief  in  New  York  during  the  past  twenty  years. 

Besides  this  sum,  in  Cincinnati  and  Minneapolis  municipal  out-door 
relief  has  diminished  one-half,  notwithstanding  the  increase  of  popula- 


^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  •  49 

tion.  Albany  and  Portland,  Ore.,  note  its  decrease.  In  Detroit  its 
distrib,ution  has  been  turned  over  to  a  special  commission  appointed  by 
the  Mayor,  and  presumably  removed  from  partisan  political  control. 
In  NcM^ark,  N.  J.,  it  has  been  restricted  to  bread  and  coal  tickets  during 
the  thrjs^'winter  months,  but  is  continued  to  widows  and  the  aged  the 
year  round. 

Street  Begging. — From  fifteen  important  cities  information  comes 
that  street  begging  has  been  perceptibly  diminished.  In  five  of  these 
cities  it  is  pronounced  suppressed,  which  means,  at  least,  that  mendi- 
cants no  longer  flaunt  their  rags  and  deformities  before  the  eyes  of  the 
citizens,  or  wail  their  dolorous  cant  in  the  public  ear.  New  York 
employs  two  special  officers  to  deal  with  this  class  of  cases.  An  ana- 
lyzed record  is  kept  of  the  cases,  and  in  1892,  63.4  per  cent,  were  found 
to  be  inmates  of  cheap  lodging  houses  and  police  stations;  20.7  to  have 
homes,  and  2.9  not  to  be  traced  to  any  abode.  Of  these,  21  per  cent, 
were  maimed,  sick  or  aged,  and  79  per  cent,  able-bodied.  To  give  to 
these  maimed  and  aged  on  the  streets  was  unmixed  cruelty,  as  it  kept 
them  from  the  more  humane  provision  of  the  almshouse.  These  are  the 
only  records  within  reach  that  permit  a  study  and  classification  of  the 
street-beggar  genus,  and  probably  the  ratios  here  given  will  hold  good 
for  the  whole  class  throughout  the  country.  In  many  cities  the  sup- 
pression of  street  begging  is  hindered  by  the  vicious  custom  of  the  civic 
authorities  to  issue  licenses  to  thinly  disguised  beggars  to  play  musical 
instruments  and  to  peddle  small  wares  in  the  streets,  as,  e.  g.,  Boston, 
Buffalo  and  New  York. 

Vagrants. — In  the  repression  of  vagrancy  three  resources  have  been 
employed — the  police,  for  the  incorrigible  and  dissolute;  labor  tests, 
as  a  means  of  discriminating  those  who  have  abandoned  themselves  to  a 
predatory  career  from  those  who  are  willing  to  use  the  means  afforded 
for  reaching  self-support;  and  lodgings,  where  wayfarers  may  abide 
temporarily  while  in  search  of  employment.  Some  of  the  wayfarers' 
lodges  employ  labor  tests,  and  the  favorite  form  of  such  tests  is  the 
wood-yard.  The  oldest  and  most  systematic  of  these  combined  lodges 
and  tests  is  in  Boston,  where  the  city  took  up  the  work  in  1879.  It  at 
once  relieved  the  police  station-houses  of  the  casuals,  and  spared  the 
unfortunates,  who  were  desirous  of  self-maintenance,  the  humiliation 
and  contamination  of  police  stations.  Here,  too,  the  purification  of 
persons  and  the  clothing  of  the  beneficiaries  is  scrupulously  attended  to, 
accompanied  by  the  strong  reinforcement  of  that  cleanliness  which 
4 


50  INTEFfNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

restores  one's  self-respect.  This  system  has  also  been  carried  to  a  wide 
extent  in  Philadelphia,  where  the  Charity  Organization  Society  per- 
forms at  its  own  expense  for  the  city  the  work  of  relieving  the  station 
houses  and  streets  from  the  casuals.  The  work  of  the  society  in  the 
rural  district  of  Bryn  Mawr  is  chiefly  of  this  kind.  It  is  reported  to  us 
that  twenty-seven  of  our  societies,  in  dealing  with  this  vagabondage, 
lodged  71  per  cent,  and  subjected  26  per  cent,  to  labor  tests.  This 
distinction  between  lodging  and  labor  tests  does  not,  however,  seem 
trustworthy;  since,  as  a  rule,  both  are  practiced  in  combination. 

In  addition,  117  cases  of  fraudulent  schemes,  especially  those  pre- 
tending to  be  organizations  for  charitable  purposes,  were  detected  and 
exposed,  and  in  many  cases  broken  up,  in  1892;  by  far  the  greater  part 
of  this  suppression  having  occurred  in  New  York. 

Co-operation. — Co-operation  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  attainments. 
It  is  a  thing  of  slow  growth,  but  each  advance  made  and  held  is  a  distinct 
and  decisive  triumph  of  organization  of  ideas.  Out  of  forty  societies 
embraced  in  this  branch  of  our  inquiry,  thirty-one  claim  a  co-operation, 
more  or  less  complete,  with  municipal  agencies  of  relief.  The  ratio 
thereof  is  the  high  one  of  97  per  cent.  The  returns  of  thirty  societies 
show  that  together  they  have  established  a  practical  co-operation  with 
one-third  of  the  charitable  agencies  and  institutions  in  their  cities.  In 
thirty-four  cities  co-operation  has  been  attained  with  44  per  cent,  of 
the  churches  located  in  them. 

Regisb-ation. — It  is  a  singular  mark  of  the  general  and  deep  impres- 
sion upon  the  public  mind  concerning  the  imposture  and  worthlessness 
of  applications  for  relief,  that  registration  and  investigation  should  be 
regarded  as  a  sort  of  detective  and  repressive  system.  But  their  detective 
and  repressive  effect  is  only  incidental  io  them  under  present  social 
conditions.  Their  true  purpose  is  far  greater  and  grander;  and  were 
all  imposture  and  dishonest  design  to  cease,  there  would  still  be  need 
of  these  two  processes.  The  information  accumulated  by  them  not 
only  lays  bare  imposture  but  maintains  the  cause  of  the  upright  poor, 
and  supi)lies  their  credentials  of  sympathy  and  help.  It  would  not 
abolish  overlapping,  but  adjust  it,  so  that  the  alms  from  one  source  may 
complement  the  alms  from  another,  and  so  concert  them  that  they  may 
be  timely,  appropriate  and  adequate.  Above  all,  it  is  the  key  to  co- 
operation. The  records  of  the  registration  bureau  enable  the  charity 
organizationist  to  say  to  all  who  toil  for  the  relief  of  penury,  "We  have 
that  information  which  is  invaluable  to  you,  if  you  would  do  your  work 


•^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  51 

wisely  and   efficiently.     We  cannot   compel  co-operation,  but  we  can 
serv©-you,  and  by  service  become  your  auxiliary  and  friend." 

There  are  two  sides  to  registration.  Societies  and  individuals  may 
males' "n^se  of  our  archives  for  guidance  in  administering  their  own  relief, 
andjjn'ey  may  also  enlarge  our  efforts  by  reporting  the  families  and  per- 
sons whom  they  aid.  The  first  form  of  co-operation  is  by  far  the  more 
common;  it  is  much  rarer  for  churches,  societies  and  private  almsgivers 
tojeport  to  us  their  own  operations.  Often  this  default  is  simply  owing 
to  the  need  of  adopting  unwonted  methods,  and  to  the  labor  required 
in  a.  systematic  exchange  of  information.  Were  our  bureaus  of  registra- 
tion replenished  and  used  as  the  charity  organization  theory  requires, 
the  active  benevolences  of  society  would  fall  into  alignment  and  move 
as  a  disciplined  army,  animated  with  a  common  purpose  to  the  conquest 
of  the  problems  of  penury,  misery  and  degradation. 

Administrators  of  public  official  relief  recognize  that  they  are  respon- 
sible to  the  public  for  the  way  in  which  they  perform  their  work,  and 
hence  they  are  most  willing  to  open  their  records  to  our  societies.  In 
eleven  large  cities  it  is  claimed  that  the  bureaus  of  registration  are  work- 
ing in  unrestricted  harmony  and  completeness  with  poor-law  officials. 
Indianapolis  and  New  Haven  estimate  that  their  records  cover  nine- 
tenths  of  the  municipal  relief  cases;  in  Albany,  Buffalo  and  Rochester 
the  ratio  ranges  from  one-quarter  to  three-quarters;  and  in  three  other 
cities  this  form  of  co-operation  is  returned  as  partial  or  considerable. 
Registration  for  voluntary  societies  would  appear  to  be  for  fifty-nine  per 
cent,  of  them  in  twelve  cities.  Fourteen  societies  have  registered  for 
churches,  attaining  to  the  service  of  from  lo  to  80  percent,  of  the  whole 
number  in  their  communities.  New  York  taking  the  lead.  Such  service 
for  asylums  and  similar  private  institutions  is  naturally  restricted.  For 
eight  societies,  the  registration  service  has  extended  from  5  to  75  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  number  of  such  institutions.  New  Haven  leading. 

In  1877  a  plan  was  proposed  in  Buffalo  of  a  central  registration 
bureau  for  all  the  charity  organization  societies,  which  should  confine 
itself  to  recording  travelling  and  professional  mendicants.  It  was  a 
scheme  for  the  suppression  of  the  tramp  nuisance,  but  proved  to  be 
premature. 

Social  State. — Another  important  plan  was  devised  at  the  same  time 
for  the  classification  of  applicants  for  relief  according  to  their  family 
relations,  ages  and  nationality.  It  went  into  fairly  general  operation  in 
1889,  when  the  blank  forms  were  agreed  upon  and  published  by  action 


52  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

of  this  National  Conference.  It  is  based  on  the  joint  experience  of  the 
American  societies  and  elicited  the  approval  of  the  First  International 
Conference  of  Charities,  held  in  Paris. 

A  word  may  be  said  here  to  enforce  the  value  of  keeping  uniform 
records.  Our  societies  are  the  only  agencies  in  the  United  States 
through  which  authentic  statistics  can  be  gathered,  not  only  covering  a 
census  of  relief-seekers,  but  eliciting  the  results  of  various  methods  of 
dealing  with  them.  This  sort  of  information,  if  carefully  collected 
and  collated,  will  soon  become  a  treasury  of  details  to  which  the  soci- 
ologist will  confidently  resort,  and  on  which  legislators,  reformers  and 
workers  among  the  poor  have  already  begun  to  base  their  course  of 
conduct. 

Classified  Disposition  of  Cases. — -From  the  beginning  charity  organi- 
zation societies  in  the  United  States  have  followed  a  plan   of  recording 
the  disposition  made  of  applicants  whose  cases  carne  under  their  charge, 
which  conformed  in  a  general  way  to  that  of  the  great  parent  society  in 
London.      There  are  44  of  them  whose  reports  have  been  received,  and 
these  embrace  the  treatment  given  to  the  huge  number  of  nearly  75,000 
cases.      With  the  exception   of  a  few  cities,  this  number  embraces  only 
new  and  not  recurrent  applicants,  and  hence  represents  the  fresh  exjmn- 
sion  of  the  work   in   the   year  1892.      Owing  to  the  different  method  of 
keeping  their  records,   and   in   making   the   returns  compiled   in   the 
reports  of  the  various  societies,  exact  deductions  cannot  be  made,  and 
the  same  cases  must  appear  in  two  or  more  classes.      It  is  probably  that 
a  tide  of  over  100,000  families  and  individuals  flowed  through  the  con- 
duits of  the  charity  organization  societies.     If  they  are  grouped  in  large 
generalizations   it   may  be  affirmed,  as  approximately  true,  that  three- 
tenths  of  this  vast  array  of  alms-seekers  really  need  material  succor,  and 
an  equal  number  do  not  need  it  at  all.     Of  the  charge  of  one-tenth,  our 
societies  have  been  wholly  relieved  by  placing  them  in  other  care.     For 
nearly  one-fifth  co-operation  of  other  societies  and  of  individuals  and 
municipal  officers  has  been  obtained;  and  for  one -fifth  relief  by  employ- 
ment was  found  adequate.     It  is  probable  that  these  ratios  fairly  repre- 
sent the  experience  thus  far   of  those   engaged   in   charity  organization 
work. 

Provident  Schemes. — Graduation  from  dependence  to  self-mainte- 
nance is  an  expression  familiar  to  all  engaged  in  this  work  throughout 
the  United  States.  It  describes  the  aim  of  this  reform,  and  the  degree 
of  achievement  in  it  is  a  supreme  test  of  our  principles.      If  there  is  to 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  5  3 

be  no  elevation  of  our  wards  into  self-support,  then  charity  organiza- 
tion'societies  only  add  to  the  alms-doling,  the  consequences  of  which 
have  been  so  pernicious  to  society.  In  cities  where  charity  organiza- 
tion'societies  have  been  planted  and  acquired  their  characteristic  influ- 
€nc?T  there  has  been  a  very  conspicuous  contemporaneous  growth  in 
the  number  and  variety  of  provident  societies.  And  our  societies  claim 
that  this  is  not  a  mere  chance,  but  the  direct  result  of  their  teachings, 
auti  generally  the  result  of  the  personal  labors  of  their  own   members. 

Saving  Funds. — These  are  of  four  sorts — simple  provident  societies, 
taking  small  deposits  at  the  counter;  stamp  banks,  where  deposit 
stamps  are  sold  at  stations  in  different  parts  of  the  city;  banks  to 
receive  small  deposits  gathered  by  visitors  who  call  at  houses  for  them, 
as  in  Newport,  R.  I.,  and  Castleton,  S.  I. — an  ingenious  system,  which 
■combines  with  great  effectiveness  the  work  of  the  friendly  visitor  with 
the  encouragement  of  savings;  and  fuel-funds,  by  means  of  which  the 
■deposits  of  the  summer  secure  deliveries  of  wood  and  coal  in  the  win- 
ter at  cost  price.  Eighteen  such  provident  fund  organizations  were 
known  to  exist  in  1892  under  the  auspices  of  our  societies,  gathering  in 
the  savings  of  33,826  depositors. 

Special  Lines  of  Development. — Attitude  toward  Relief. — iVs  each 
community  has  its  distinctive  characteristics,  so  each  charity  organiza- 
tion society  inevitably  adjusts  itself  to  them,  and  diversities  of  practice 
and  development  spring  up.  These  variations  are  desirable  as  enlarging 
the  number  of  experiments  tried,  and  as  throwing  side  lights  upon  special 
problems.  In  one  particular  there  is  a  growing  unison  of  judgment. 
In  the  returns  of  the  sixty  societies  contributing  to  this  report,  there 
is  no  advocacy  or  defense  of  relief-giving  from  their  treasuries.  On  the 
contrary  those  societies  which  practice  it  either  deprecate  it  or  excuse 
it.  All  this  testimony  is  a  distinct  indication  of  the  advance  of  our 
principles,  and  of  an  intelligent  perception  of  the  function  of  charity 
organization.  The  matter  is  of  prime  importance,  for  upon  this  rock 
of  almsgiving  many  a  society  has  been  wrecked. 

Emergencies. — A  ])eculiar  and  severe  test  of  charity  organization 
societies  has  come  in  the  demands  made  by  special  emergencies.  The 
Chicago- Relief  and  Aid  Society  reached  a  position  of  commanding 
influence  and  was  led  into  the  adoption  of  many  charity  organization 
principles  by  acting  as  the  distributor  of  large  funds  contributed  for  the 
aid  of  sufferers  by  the  great  fire  of  187 1.  Boston  was  moved  to  the 
steps  which  resulted  in  her  Associated  Charities  by  the  suffering  conse-' 


54  INTERNA'lIONAI.    CONGRESS    OK    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

(jiient  upon  the  great  fire  of  1872,  and  on  the  commercial  crisis  which 
began  in  1873  and  brooded  over  the  land  for  two  or  three  years.  The 
Maiden,  Mass.,  society  was  formed  to  alleviate  the  distress  caused  by  a 
great  fire  in  1875.  At  the  time  of  the  terrible  Johnstown  flood,  the 
District  of  Columbia  committee  to  gather  aid  for  the  sufferers,  sent  the 
secretary  of  the  Associated  Charities  of  Washington  thither  as  their 
agent.  In  1889  a  disastrous  fire  swept  over  an  area  of  twenty-five 
acres  in  Lynn,  rendering  T75  families  homeless,  and  putting  seven 
thousand  jjersons  out  of  employment.  The  information  accunaulated 
by  the  Associated  Charities,  covering  many  families,  was  instantly 
available  ;  the  skill  of  its  visitors,  agents  and  managers  came  into 
immediate  requisition  ;  a  delegation  of  experienced  visitors  came  from 
the  society  in  Boston,  and  during  the  six  days  in  which  a  more  general 
relief  committee  was  taking  form  and  acquiring  funds  and  stores,  the 
Associated  Charities  was  giving  order  and  shaping  methods  which  alle- 
viated immediate  distress  and  facilitated  subsequent  operations.  The 
tornado  of  Louisville  in  May,  1890,  by  which  seventy-six  lives  were 
lost  and  two  hundred  persons  were  injured,  created  great  suffering. 
The  Board  of  Trade  Relief  Committee  expended  $156,000  in  allevi- 
ating it,  and  employed  the  visitors  and  agents  of  the  Charity  Organiza- 
tion Society  as  its  investigators  and  almoners.  In  the  Park  Place 
disaster  in  New  York  in  May,  1891,  when  sixty-three  persons  were 
killed  or  injured,  those  in  charge  of  the  Mayor's  Relief  Fund  invoked 
the  aid  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society,  and  within  a  week  the 
particulars  of '  each  case  were  collected  and  recommendations  made 
which  were  followed  in  the  distribution  of  the  fund  contributed  for 
the  sufferers.  By  the  same  means  the  $7,000  collected  by  the  New 
York  Herald  for  the  same  disaster  was  disbursed.  This  capacity  to  act 
in  emergencies  cannot  seem  strange  to  those  who  consider  the  advan- 
tages of  a  pre-existing  registration  bureau,  of  a  large  staff  of  trained 
agents  and  visitors  familiar  with  the  aspect  of  want,  and  of  a  co-opera- 
tive scheme  which  embraces  the  whole  field  of  benevolent  work  among 
the  destitute. 

Legislation — Not  the  least  of  the  labors  undertaken  in  this  movement 
are  the  efforts  to  amend  legislation.  In  Massachusetts,  the  separation 
of  the  pauper  from  the  criminal  class  in  public  institutions  has  been 
accomplished;  there  and  in  New  York  strenuous  and  sometimes  suc- 
cessful efforts  have  proceeded  from  our  societies  to  restrict  the  sale  of 
alcoholic  liquors;   the  poor  relief  laws  have  been  amended:    in  the  same 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  55 

States  ,the  statutes  have  defined  tenement-houses  so  as  to  bring  a  larger 
number  under  official  inspection;  new  requirements  have  been  imposed 
by  sanitary  laws,  and  in  Boston  an  alliance  has  been  made  with  the 
Technpiggical  Institute  to  secure  reports  on  the  violation  of  sanitary 
principles.  In  New  York  a  law,  unfortunately  not  yet  in  operation, 
has  been  obtained  requiring  the  city  to  open  municipal  lodging  houses 
to  relieve  the  station  houses  of  wayfarers  and  secure  their  cleanliness; 
immigration  has  been  made  a  subject  of  careful  investigation,  and 
recommendations  prepared  for  submission  to  Congress.  In  several 
societies  there  is  a  department  of  legal  advice,  in  which  professional 
service  is  rendered  gratuitously  to  prevent  injustice  or  secure  the  poor 
in  their  rights. 

Education. — Seminaries  or  departments  for  the  investigation  of  socio- 
logical questions  have  been  established  at  Harvard,  Yale,  Johns  Hop- 
kins, Cornell,  Pennsylvania,  Vanderbilt,  Leland  Stanford,  Chicago  and 
many  other  Universities,  at  the  State  Universities  of  Ohio,  Michigan 
and  Nebraska,  at  Amherst  and  Bryn  Mawr  Colleges;  and  in  connection 
with  some  of  these  institutions  occasional  or  serial  papers  are  published 
from  time  to  time.  Representatives  of  our  societies  have  been  called 
upon  to  lecture  on  these  themes  in  several  colleges  and  theological 
seminaries,  especially  in  the  prominent  ones  in  or  within  easy  reach  of 
the  leading  cities,  and  also  before  audiences  assembled  in  churches. 

Necrology. 

Some  few  of  the  many  whose  memory  and  example  remain  as  bene- 
dictions to  their  associates,  must  have  a  tribute  here  to  meet  the  demands 
of  our  hearts. 

Hodge. — With  happy  sagacity  the  Philadelphia  Society  called  Dr.  H. 
Lenox  Hodge  to  be  its  first  president.  Of  honored  lineage,  of  high 
professional  eminence,  of  winning  sweetness  of  disposition,  he  uttered 
judgments  so  wise  and  conciliatory  that  the  divergent  opinions  of  his 
associates  melted  into  unison  before  them.  His  great  influence  was  a 
tower  of  strength  to  tiie  nascent  society,  and  his  name  entrenched  it  in 
public  confidence.  He  embodied  that  "sweetness  and  light"'  which 
Matthew  Arnold  thought  to  give  the  soul  its  noblest  excellence. 
He  died  in  the  strength  of  his  manhood,  and  while  president  of  the 
society. 

McCulloch. — In  Indianapolis  the  Rev.  Oscar  C.  McCulloch  was  a 
magician  of  philanthropy.     His  was  a  scholar's  diligence  and  enthusiasm 


56  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

in  the  study  of  the  alleviation  of  human  misery.  No  man  was  more 
dexterous  in  detecting  the  dictates  of  true  charity  and  following  them 
through  the  complexities  and  discords  of  social  benevolence;  for  in  his 
heart  was  the  divine  instinct  which  "beareth  all  things,  believeth  all 
things,  hopeth  all  things."  The  Charity  Organization  Society  of 
Indianapolis,  founded  under  his  leadership,  is  his  monument,  and  to 
future  generations  may  it  long  transmit  his  honored  fame. 

Pi'cston. — Vicar-General  Preston  was  an  earnest  and  useful  friend 
of  the  society  in  Mew  York,  and  an  efficient  intermediary  in  all 
negotiations  with  the  authorities  and  agencies  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church. 

Brooks. — By  the  death  of  Phillips  Brooks  the  Associated  Charities  of 
Boston  lost  one  of  its  most  loved  and  inspiring  friends.  He  was  on  the 
first  committee  appointed  to  report  a  plan  of  organization  and  co-ope- 
ration, and  on  the  provisional  council  until  the  society  was  organized. 
That  society  records  that  "his  eloquence  and  his  great  influence  have 
been  repeatedly  exerted  in  the  society's  behalf.  His  ability  and  still 
more  his  personal  character  were  such  that  whatever  he  touched  gained 
from  him  beauty  and  dignity.  His  eloquent  words  at  the  various  public 
meetings  of  the  society  set  forth  the  sco})e  of  its  work  and  the  spirit 
that  should  pervade  it,  in  a  way  that  exalted  and  ennobled  it  for  all 
who  heard  him." 

Buzelle. — Of  George  B.  Buzelle  of  Brooklyn  it  was  declared,  as  his 
body  was  laid  to  rest,  "he  was  one  of  God's  noblemen."  He  had 
caught  the  spirit  of  his  Master's  words  "Whosoever  shall  be  great  among 
you  shall  be  your  minister;  whosoever  of  you  shall  be  chiefest  shall  be 
serv'ant  of  all."  He  was  not  an  hireling;  he  was  not  an  oiificial;  he 
was  a  man  and  a  brother.  No  one  could  have  known  Mr.  Buzelle  with- 
out being  impressed  with  his  faithfulness.  Nothing  could  stand  between 
him  and  his  duty.  The  chairman  of  this  committee,  as  his  nearest 
neighbor  in  like  responsibility,  and  all  who  have  known  him  in  these 
conferences,  and  especially  in  the  painstaking  and  eminently  successful 
labors  of  this  chairmanship  a  year  ago,  will  testify  that  these  words 
cover  no  exaggerations. 

It  would  be  a  grateful  task  to  linger  over  these  tributes  to  the  memo- 
ries of  departed  colleagues  who  live  still  in  our  esteem,  but  time  forbids. 
These  were  among  many  others  we  would  name,  by  priority  of  labors  or 
by  eminence  of  influence,  of  so  wide  note  that  they  could  not  be  passed 
by  in  silence.      Others  have  wrought  with  no  less  consecration  of  heart, 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  57 

no  less  generosity  of  thought  and  hand.  Gratitude  for  the  inspiration 
of  their  example,  for  the  quickening  touch  of  their  noble  personality, 
follov^  them  beyond  the  tomb.  We  love  to  think  of  these  souls,  so 
radia4f;"here  with  pure  charity,  having  done  their  humane  work  to  the 
least  of  these  His  brethren,  as  having  entered  into  the  joy  of  their 
Lord. 


THE  STATE  CHARITIES   AID   ASSOCIATION   OF  THE  STATE 

OF  NEW  YORK. 

1872— 1S93. 

VOLUNTARY,  UNOP'FICIAL  SUPERVISION  OF  PUBLIC  CHARI- 
TABLE INSTITUTIONS  IN  CO-OPERATION  WITH  OFFICIAL  BOARDS, 
AS  ILLUSTRATED  BY  THE  WORK  OF  THE  STATE  CHARITIES  AID 
ASSOCIATION  OF  NEW  YORK. 

I3Y  iMISS  LOUISA  LEE  SCHUYLER,    MEMBER  (JF  THE  ASSOCIATION. 

The  State  Charities  Aid  Association  of  New  York  was  organized  in 
May,  1872,  with  the  object  of  bringing  about  reforms  in  the  poor- 
houses,  almshouses  and  state  charitable  institutions  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  through  the  active  interest  of  an  organized  body  of  volunteer 
visitors,  acting  in  co-operation  with,  and  as  an  aid  to  the  local  admin- 
istration of  these  institutions,  and  the  official  state  boards  of  super- 
vision. 

Upon  nomination  of  the  State  Charities  Aid  Association,  through  its 
board  of  managers,  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  are  authorized  to 
grant  to  the  visitors  of  the  association  orders  to  enable  them  to  visit, 
inspect  and  examine,  in  behalf  of  the  association,  any  of  the  public 
charitable  institutions  owned  by  the  state,  and  the  county,  town  and 
city  poorhouses  and  ahnshouses  within  the  State  of  New  York;  such 
visitors  to  be  residents  of  the  counties  from  which  these  institutions 
receive  their  inmates.  The  association  reports  annually,  on  or  before 
the  ist  of  December,  to  the  State  Board  of  Charities  and  to  the  State 
Commission  in  Lunacy,  upon  matters  relating  to  the  institutions  subject 
respectively  to  the  inspection  and  control  of  these  two  official  bodies. 
The  full  text  of  the  law  is  given  as  an  appendix  to  this  paper. 


58  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

The  association  entered  upon  its  work  in  1872,  not  in  any  spirit  of 
criticism  of  officials,  but  with  the  wish  to  assist  them  towards  the  re- 
forms they  themselves  desired,  by  the  creation  of  a  strong  local  public 
sentiment  in  favor  of  these  reforms;  knowing  also  that  for  much  that 
was  at  fault  the  system,  and  not  the  men  who  administered   it,  was  fe- 

.  sponsible.  The  association  was,  however,  equally  determined  to  ex- 
pose abuses  and  corruption  wherever  found.  What  measure  of 
co-operation,  what  degree  of  public  support  has  attended  this  concep- 
tion of  the  attitude  towards  others  sought  to  be  maintained  by  the 
association,  the  following  pages  will  show.  It  may,  however,  be  men- 
tioned here  that  an  experience  of  twenty-one  years  has  taught  us  that 
wherever  our  visitors  have  been  welcomed  by  the  local  authorities,  there 
earnest  and  honest  men  have  been  found  in  charge,  with  nothing  to 
conceal  and  everything  to  gain  from  outside  interest  and  support; 
whereas,  where  the  visitors  are  not  welcomed,  it  has  become  almost  a 
sure  sign  that  in  these  institutions  are  practices  and  management  which 
will  not  bear  the  search-light  of  independent,  fearless  vision. 
,  *  That  the  people  have  the  right  to  visit  and  inspect  the  public  insti- 
,   /  tutions  of  charity  owned  and  supported  by  themselves  is  a  cardinal  point 

I  of  our  faith;  and  the  association  in  its  membership  has  sought  to  make 
the  lines  so  broad  that  it  may  fairly  claim  to  represent  the  people.  In 
its  ranks  are  found  men  and  women,  young  and  old,  rich  and  poor, 
the  farmer,  the  merchant,  the  medical  and  legal  professions,  all  political 
parties,  the  Protestant,  the  Catholic,  the  Hebrew.  And  this  claim  of 
the  association,  that  it  represents  the  people  in  its  volunteer  work,  has 
again  and  again  been  recognized  by  the  legislature  of  the  State  of 
New  York;  first  of  all  by  providing  for  the  visitors  of  the  association, 
as  already  mentioned,  a  right  of  entrance  into  all  the  public  charitable 
institutions  in  the  state;  and  secondly,  by  the  enactment,  sooner  or 
later,  of  every  measure  of  reform,  requiring  legislative  action,  which 
the  managers  of  the  association  have  applied  for.  It  is  thoroughly 
understood  that  the  association,  composed  entirely  of  volunteer  work- 
ers, desires  no  administrative  powers  for  itself,  fearing  to  divide  or  im- 
pair the  responsibility  of  the  local  authorities  for  the  good  management 
of  their  respective  institutions.  The  association  desires  only  to  see, 
'^and  to  speak  of  what  it  sees.     This  is  power  enough,  in  a  country  where 

/  the  press  is  free  and  where  public  opinion  is  all-powerful. 

The   frame-work   of  organization   upon   which   the   association    rests 
is  very  simple.      It  is  governed  by  a  board  of  managers  of  fifteen  mem- 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  59 

bers,  men  and  women,  elected  annually  from  those  members  of  the 
association  who  reside  in  the  city  of  New  York,  known  as  members  of 
the  Cpitral  Association,  and  numbering  to-day  220.  The  officers  of 
the  Cgunty  Visiting  Committees  vote  also  for  managers  at  the  annual 
meeUng.  The  board  of  managers,  by  act  of  incorporation,  has  full 
power  to  direct  and  control  the  affairs  and  funds  of  the  association, 
and  is_ responsible  for  its  good  government. 

The  officers  of  the  association,  president,  vice-president,  treasurer, 
secretary  and  librarian,  are,  except  the  secretary,  elected  annually  by 
the  incoming  board  from  its  own  members;  and  the  president  and  sec- 
retary of  the  association  are  also  chairman  and  secretary  of  the 
board.  The  secretary  is  the  chief  executive  officer  of  the  association, 
and  is  appointed  and  removed  by  the  board  of  managers.  The 
librarian,  in  addition  to  the  duties  appertaining  usually  to  this  office, 
collects  for  the  library,  by  donation,  books  and  pamphlets  upon  sub- 
jects connected  with  the  work  of  the  association.  These  books  are 
available  to  all  members,  and  are  also  loaned  to  other  students  who 
may  apply  for  them. 

There  are  four  standing  committees  of  the  Central  Association: 
upon  Children;  upon  Adult  Able-bodied  Paupers:  upon  Hospitals; 
and  a  Finance  Committee. 

The  duties  of  three  of  these  standing  committees  are  defined  in  the 
by-laws  of  the  association,  as  follows: 

'■'"Committee  on  Childieii. — It  is  the  duty  of  the  Committee  on  Children  to  keep 
itself  informed  of  the  number,  condition  and  disposition  of  the  pauper  children 
of  the  state;  and  to  urge  the  adoption  of  such  measures  in  the  care  and  training 
of  these  children  as  may  tend  effectually  to  destroy  hereditary  pauperism,  and  as 
speedily  as  possible  restore  them  to  the  family-life  of  the  community. 

'■'Committee  on  Adult  Able-bodied  Faicpers. — It  is  the  duty  of  the  Committee  on 
Adult  Able-bodied  Paupers  to  keep  itself  informed  of  the  number  of  able-bodied 
pauper  men  and  women  in  the  almshouses  of  the  state,  and  the  character  and  value 
of  the  labor  jierfornied  bv  them,  and  the  Committee  shall  advocate  reformatory 
treatment  for  all  persons  of  this  class.  The  Committee  shall  endeavor  to  have  the 
laivs  for  the  arrest  and  commitment  of  vagrants  enforced,  shall  advocate  meas- 
ures obliging  all  adult  able-bodied  paupers  to  work,  and  promote  all  efforts  which 
tend  to  abolish  beggary  and  vagrancy;  and  it  shall  endeavor  to  bring  about  the 
abolition  or  reformation  of  the  system  of  official  out-door  relief. 

"Committee  on  Hospitals. — It  is  the  duty  of  the  Committee  on  Hospitals:  ist. 
'l"o  keep  itself  informed  of  the  number  and  condition  of  the  sick,  insane,  epilep- 
tic, blind,  deaf  and  dumb,  idiot  and  aged  paupers  in  the  New  York  institutions 
of  public  charities,  and  to  urge  the  adoption  of  such  measures  as  archest  adapted 
to  restore  their  health,  alleviate  their  sufferings,  and  secure  their  humane  care. 
2d.  To  collect  and  impart  information  in  regard  to  the  most  apjiroved  plans  for 
the  construction,  ventilation  and  disinfection  of  hospitals  and  asylums,  and  for 
their  administration;  and  to  prepare  plans  for  the  organization  of  their  kitchen. 


6o  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

linen,  laundry,  nursing  and  supply  departments.  3d.  To  keep  itself  informed  of 
the  organization  and  management  of  the  dispensary  and  ambulance  service,  and 
to  suggest  and  advocate  any  modification  thereof  that   may  seem  desirable." 

The  Finance  Committee  collects,  through  voluntary  contributions,  the  small 
amount  of  money  needed  annually:  for  rent  of  headquarter  office  in  New  York 
city,  and  for  clerical  assistance;  for  printing,  postage  and  ofifice  expenses;  for  the 
salaries  and  traveling  expenses  of  the  secretary  and  assistant  secretary.  Less 
than  $10,000  is  needed  for  these  purposes.  No  money  is  received  from  public 
sources;  nor  will  this  be  accepted,  as  we  wish  to  be  independent  of  all  outside 
influences. 

County  Visiting  Committees. 

It  is  the  special  duty  of  the  secretary,  in  person  and  by  correspond- 
ence, to  organize  County  Visiting  Committees  throughout  the  state, 
who  receive  their  appointment  from  the  board  of  managers  and  who  work 
under  its  direction  and  control.  Composed  of  both  men  and  women, 
these  committees  number  to-day  forty-eight,  comprising  750  members. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  visiting  committees  to  visit  the  poorhouses  and 
almshouses  of  their  respective  counties,  reporting  monthly  to  the 
board  of  managers,  through  the  secretary  at  the  headquarter  office  in 
New  York  city.  Such  portions  of  these  reports  as  may  have  reference 
to  children  are  referred  to  the  Standing  Committee  on  Children  of  the 
Central  Association;  those  which  relate  to  vagrants  to  the  Standing 
Committee  on  Adult  Able-bodied  Paupers;  those  having  reference  to 
the  sick,  the  insane,  epileptics,  idiots,  the  blind,  deaf  and  dumb,  and 
the  aged  to  the  Standing  Committee  on  Hospitals.  The  members  of 
these  three  standing  committees  are  experts  and  students  of  the  sub- 
jects referred  to  them.  It  is  their  duty  to  inform  themselves  of  the  best 
form  of  care  which  each  class  of  dependents  should  receive,  to  gather 
this  information  from  every  country  in  the  world,  from  every  other 
state  of  our  Union  whose  enlightened  methods  are  superior  to  our  own, 
to  originate  ways  and  means  to  meet  the  difficulties  referred  to  them, 
and  then  to  place  this  information  at  the  disposal  of  the  visitors  in  such 
form  as  to  be  of  practical  use  to  them.  Sometimes  the  questions  asked, 
being  the  same  from  many  quarters,  are  answered  by  the  publication  of 
handbooks,  for  Visitors  to  the  Poorhouse,  Visitors  to  Hospitals,  Vis- 
itors to  the  Insane,  by  treatises  upon  nursing,  training-schools  for 
nurses,  hospital  laundries,  upon  legal  subjects,  etc.  Sometimes  a 
simple  method  for  ventilating  a  hospital  ward  is  asked  for;  and  again, 
plans  for  altering  an  old  poorhouse  or  building  a  new  one,  or  for  the 
erection  of  a  new  hospital.  Thirty-four  such  publications  (the  authors 
of  all  but  one  being  members  of  the  association),  besides  leaflets  and 


■^  CHAR]  lY    ORGANIZATION.  6 1 

circulars  innumerable,  have  been  issued  to  meet  the  demands  of  our 
visitors'and  others  for  special  information. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  how  the  student  members  and  the  active  visiting 
membrgrs  of  the  association  act  and  react  upon  each  other.  The 
form^rT^help  the  latter  by  their  expert  knowledge;  the  latter  prevent 
the  former  from  becoming  mere  theorist?  by  applying  tt)  their  theories 
the  test  of  practical  application. 

-Thelemedies  to  be  applied  are  most  of  them  local  in  character,  in- 
tended to  improve  the  condition  of  those  inmates  of  poorhouses  and 
almshouses  who  legitimately  belong  there;  and  the  accomplishment 
of  these  reforms  depends  upon  the  influence  of  the  visiting  committees 
in  their  own  counties,  with  their  own  boards  of  supervisors,  with  their 
own  city  commissioners  of  charities,  or  superintendents  of  the  poor. 
For  other  classes  of  inmates  the  heroic  treatment  of  removal  to  other 
institutions  and  other  surroundings  is  necessary.  This  often  calls  for 
legislative  action;  and  such  action,  when  determined  upon,  is  always 
undertaken  and  controlled  by  the  board  of  managers.  A  thorough 
study  is  given  the  subject,  extending  at  times  over  one  or  more  years, 
the  best  legal  talent  is  sought,  and  the  bill,  when  drafted,  is  placed  in 
the  hands  of  a  special  committee  to  secure  its  enactment;  while  members 
of  the  association  in  all  parts  of  the  state  are  called  upon  to  interest 
their  representatives  in  the  legislature  in  its  behalf. 

The  remedies,  it  will  thus  be  seen,  are  of  a  two-fold  nature;  some  of 
them  general,  requiring  the  intervention  of  the  legislature,  others 
local,  to  be  sought  at  home. 

Results. 

What  has  this  system  accomplished  through  these  twenty-one  years, 
since  the  association  began  its  work  in  1872  ? 

Much  that  will  never  be  known;  the  many  acts  of  kindness  to  indi- 
viduals, the  rescue  of  little  children  from  pauperizing  influences,  the 
assistance  given  convalescents  when  leaving  hospital,  the  happiness 
brought  into  many  a  maimed  and  broken  life — all  this,  going  on  quietly 
day  after  day,  can  never  be  recorded;  nor  the  sympathy  and  support 
given  by  our  visitors  to  the  overworked  wives  of  poorhouse  keepers, 
to  the  keepers  themselves.  These  are  not  small  things.  They  lie  deep 
in  the  very  foundations  of  our  work.  From  the  desire  to  alleviate  suf- 
fering, to  help  the  helpless,  to  fight  for  the  oppressed,  have  sprung  all 
the  reforms  of  the  State  Charities  Aid  Association,  dignified  sometimes 


6  2  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

by  high-sounding  names,  but  all  going  back  to  the  simple  recognition 
of  brotherly  love  to  the  individual  man,  or  woman,  or  child  we  have 
known  and  cared  for  in  the  poorhouse. 

The  following  are  named  as  direct  results  of  the  work  of  the  State 
Charities  Aid  Association.  And,  in  stating  them,  we  wish  it  borne  in 
mind  that  what  has  been  accomplished  is  equally  due  to  the  co-operation 
of  the  local  authorities.  In  addition  to  this,  and  where  this  has  not 
been  attainable,  the  co-operation  of  the  State  Board  of  Charities  and 
the  State  Commission  in  Lunacy  have  been  invaluable.  At  times  the 
association  as  been  obliged  to  carry  its  reforms  single-handed,  but 
these  instances  are  fortunately  rare. 

1.  A  higher  standard  of  care  has  been  introduced  into  every  poor- 
house  and  almshouse  in  the  state.  This  means  better  nursing,  special 
diet  for  the  sick,  improved  hospital  accommodation,  separation  of  the 
sexes,  suitable  food,  proper  clothing,  and  many  little  comforts  for  the 
aged  and  infirm.  It  is  impossible  to  enumerate  the  small  and  the  great 
benefits  conferred  upon  the  inmates  of  the.se  institutions  through  the 
presence  of  a  few  humane  and  intelligent  visitors,  commanding  the 
confidence  and  respect  of  their  own  communities  and  sure  of  a  power- 
ful backing  from  headquarters. 

2.  Training- School  for  Nurses,  1873. — This  school,  attached  to 
Bellevue  Hospital,  one  of  the  largest  pauper  general  hospitals  of  the  city 
of  New  York,  was  established  by  our  New  York  County  Visiting  Com- 
mittee, who  raised  the  necessary  ;^20,ooo  with  which  to  begin  it,  opened 
the  training  school  on  the  first  day  of  May,  1873,  and  to  whom  is  due 
its  efficient  management  and  great  success.  At  first  governed  by  a 
special  committee,  the  school  increased  so  rapidly  in  importance  that  it 
was  soon  incorporated  as  a  separate  society,  merely  reporting  annually 
to  the  parent  association  in  recognition  of  its  origin. 

The  whole  number  of  patients  nursed  by  this  school,  from  1879  to 
1893,  is  50,059. 

Its  graduates  number  424;  of  these,  45  are  now  holding  positions  in 
hospitals,  19  as  superintendents  of  training  schools,  10  as  matrons,  and 
16  as  head  nurses. 

In  New  York  city  they  have  been  employed  in  the  New  York,  Mt. 
Sinai,  Charity  and  Post-Graduate  Hospitals,  and  in  the  Hospital  for  Rup- 
tured and  Crippled;  at  Chicago,  in  the  Cook  County  Hospital,  St. 
Luke's,  and  the  Presbyterian;  in  the  City  Hospital  of  Boston,  the  Johns 
Hopkins  at  Baltimore,  the  Brooklyn  City  Hospital,  and   the   Protestant 


-^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  63 

Episcopal  Church  Hospital  at  Philadelphia.  One  graduate  is  in  Louis- 
ville»-6ne  in  Indianapolis,  one  in  St.  Louis,  one  in  Savannah;  one  in 
England,  one  in  Italy,  two  in  Canada,  and  two  in  China.  The  number 
of  pri'Ote  cases  nursed  by  the  graduates  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact 
thatjjrere  were  1,336  calls  for  private  nurses  made  during  the  past  year 
through  the  registry  kept  by  the  Bellevue  school. 

The  school  has  therefore  not  only  accomplished  its  primary  object  of 
obtaining  good  nursing  for  the  patients  of  Bellevue  hospital,  but  has 
opened  a  new  profession  to  women;  has  supplied  private  families  with 
well-trained,  competent  nurses,  and  has  furnished  district  nurses  for  the 
sick-poor  in  their  homes. 

The  above  is  one  illustration  of  a  local  remedy  sought  for  and  applied 
at  home  by  a  county  visiting  committee;  but  destined,  as  a  pioneer 
school  established  on  a  basis  unknown  at  that  time  in  this  country,  to 
become  so  far-reaching  in  its  effects  that  almost  every  state  in  the  Union 
has  been  benefited  thereby. 

3.  Hospital  Book  and  Newspaper  Society,  1874. — Boxes  for  the  recep- 
tion of  fresh  daily  newspapers  are  placed,  by  this  society,  at  the  railway 
stations,  the  ferry  slips,  the  exchanges,  etc.,  in  New  York  city,  whence 
the  papers  are  collected  every  day  and  taken  to  the  hospitals,  to  be  im- 
mediately distributed  through  the  wards.  In  1892  these  daily  papers 
numbered  158,417.  Books  and  pamphlets  are  received  at  the  office  of 
the  society,  and  are  sent  every  week  to  hospitals,  asylums,  poor-houses, 
prisons,  life-saving  stations,  light -houses,  etc.,  often  forming  the  nucleus 
of  a  small  library.  During  the  year  1892  the  society  distributed  7,716 
books,  15,944  magazines,  and  54,020  illustrated  and  weekly  papers. 
The  Hospital  Book  and  Newspaper  Society,  at  first  a  committee  of  the 
association,  is  now  a  branch,  with  independent  membership  and 
treasury. 

4.  Farming  Out  the  Poor  Abolished,  1875. — In  one  of  the  counties 
of  the  State  of  New  York  there  yet  remained,  when  the  visiting  com- 
mittee of  that  county  was  organized,  a  remnant  of  the  barbarous  system 
of  farming  out  the  care  of  the  ])oor  to  the  lowest  bidder.  The  abuses 
connected  with  this  practice  can  well  be  imagined.  Through  the  exer- 
tions of  our  visiting  committee,  this  system  was  speedily  and  com- 
pletely abolished. 

5.  Temporary  Homes  for  Children,  1877-S5. — In  1875  the  New  York 
State  Board  of  Charities  secured  the  enactment  of  a  law,  known  as  "the 
Children's  Law,"  which   made  obligatory  the  removal   of  all   children 


64  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

over  two  years  of  age  from  the  poorhouses  and  almshouses  of  the  state. 
In  this  great  reform  the  board  had  the  full  sympathy  of  the  members  of 
the  association  throughout  the  state,  who  have  also  been  active  in  pro- 
moting the  enforcement  of  the  law.  To  provide  a  suitable  place  (the 
poorhouse  being  very  properly  forbidden)  where  temporary  lodging  for 
children  could  be  had,  pending  their  removal  to  homes  in  families, 
the  visiting  committees  of  Ulster,  Westchester  and  Queens  counties 
established  three  Temporary  Homes  for  Children,  in  1877,  1880  and 
1885. 

6.  Tramp  Act,  1880. — In  several  counties  it  was  found  to  be  the 
direct  pecuniary  interest  of  the  Overseers  of  the  Poor  to  encourage 
vagrancy,  as  they  received  from  the  county  treasury  fifty  cents  per 
capita,  often  more,  for  each  night's  lodging  given  a  tramp.  It  required 
three  years  to  obtain  the  necessary  remedial  legislation;  but  since  the 
enactment  of  this  deterrent  measure,  the  State  of  New  York  has  been 
less  attractive  to  tramps.     (Laws  of  New  York,  1880,  Chap.  176.) 

7.  First  Aid  to  the  Injured,  1882. — The  serious  condition  in  which 
accident  cases  were  received  at  the  hospitals  in  New  York  city,  owing 
to  ignorance  of  what  should  be  done  before  a  physician  could  be  sum- 
moned, induced  the  organization,  by  the  Hospital  Committee  of  the 
association,  of  a  Society  for  Instruction  in  First  Aid  to  the  Injured, 
modeled  upon  the  English  societies  of  like  nature.  This  society,  since 
its  formation,  (at  first  as  a  committee  of  the  association,)  has  given  264 
courses  of  lectures,  of  which  62  were  to  pay-classes  and  202  to  free- 
classes,  to  the  police,  railroad  employees,  working  girls'  clubs,  and 
to  members  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  and  Young  Men's 
Institute,  making  a  total  of  6,595  persons  thus  instructed,  of  which 
number  3,54.5  received  diplomas  qualifying  them  to  render  first  aid  to 
the  injured.  During  the  eleven  years  of  the  existence  of  the  society,  it 
has  received  over  one  thousand  testimonials  from  members  of  the  police 
force  and  others,  attesting  the  value  of  the  instructions  received. 

8.  Trained  JVurses  for  the  Insane,  1885. — Acting  in  co-operation 
with  the  Bellevue  Training-School  for  Nurses  and  the  City  Commission- 
ers of  Charities  of  Kings  County,  the  Association  secured  for  six  gradu- 
ates of  that  school  a  special  course  of  training  at  the  Kings  County 
Insane  Asylum.  Later,  one  of  these  nurses  was  the  first  principal  of 
a  training-school  for  nurses  for  the  insane,  established  at  the  Hudson 
River  State  Hospital. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  65 

9.  Municipal  Lodging  Houses,  1886. — The  association  obtained  the 
passage  of  an  act  for  the  establishment,  by  the  New  York  city  authori- 
ties, of  one  or  more  municipal  lodging  houses,  with  the  object  of 
dimintfeTiing  the  number  of  tramps  and  vagrants  at  present  sheltered 
withotrt  charge  by  the  city  in  the  police  station-houses,  and  of  provid- 
ing decent  lodging  for  respectable  persons  in  temporary  distress;  labor 
to  be  exacted  in  return  for  shelter. 

The  act,  being  permissive  and  not  mandatory,  has  never  been  put  in 
operation.  An  amendment  will  doubtless  be  applied  for  by  the  Com- 
mittee on  Adult  Able-bodied  Paupers,  to  remedy  this  defect. 

ID.  State  Care  for  the  Insane  Act  of  1890. — State  Care  Appropria- 
tion Act  of  1891. — For  over  fifty  years  it  has  been  the  policy  of  the 
State  of  New  York  to  provide  hospital  treatment  and  care  for  its 
dependent  insane.  State  asylums  were  first  established  for  acute 
cases  of  insanity,  to  be  succeeded  later  by  state  asylums  for  the  recep- 
tion of  chronic  cases  from  the  poorhouses.  Seven  large  state  hospitals 
have  thus  been  erected  and  equipped,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  the 
insane  skilled  medical  treatment  and  suitable  care.  It  was  owing  to 
an  infringement,  in  recent  years,  of  this  humane  policy,  a  backward 
step  of  the  legislature,  through  which  county  after  county  was  authorized 
to  retain  its  milder  cases  of  insanity,  until  one-third  of  all  the  counties 
of  the  state  had  been  exempted  from  the  general  law,  that  brought  about 
the  necessity,  in  1888,  of  applying  for  legislation  which  should  restore 
to  the  state  its  old-time  policy,  and  at  one  stroke  completely  abolish 
the  poorhouse  system  of  caring  for  the  insane. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  speak  here  of  the  condition  of  the  insane  in  the 
poorhouse  asylums.  Nearly  all  the  reports,  official  and  unofficial,  of  the 
years  1887-91,  unite  in  condemning  it.  The  remedy  proposed  by  the 
association  was  the  division  of  the  state  into  insane  asylum  districts,  one 
for  each  of  the  seven  state  hospitals;  the  insane  from  the  poorhouses  to 
be  sent  to  the  hospitals  of  their  respective  districts.  To  accommodate 
them  comparatively  small,  inexpensive  buildings  were  to  be  erected  on 
the  grounds  of  the  existing  state  hospitals,  to  contain  each  not  more 
than  150  nor  less  than  10  paj:ients;  the  cost  of  building,  including  equip- 
ment, (heating,  lighting,  ventilation,  fixtures  and  furniture,)  not  to 
txct(^d$^^o  per  capita.  It  was  made  obligatory  upon  the  State  Com- 
mission in  Lunacy  to  cause  the  removal  of  all  patients  from  the  poor- 
houses as  soon  as  state  accommodations  for  them  could  be  provided,  and 
the  poorhouses  were  forbidden  to  receive  further  cases  of  insanity.      New 

5 


66  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

York,  Kings  and  Monroe  counties  were  to  be  excluded  from  the  pro- 
visions of  the  bill,  simply  because  they  had  asylum  grounds  and  build- 
ings of  sufficient  magnitude  to  be  transferred  to  the  state,  and  reorgan- 
ized as  state  hospitals,  whenever  these  counties  might  wish  to  come 
under  the  provisions  of  the  proposed  measure. 

In  1888,  when  the  association,  single-handed,  and  in  the  face  of  a 
most  formidable  opposition,  entered  upon  this  great  reform,  there  were 
over  2,000  insane  persons  scattered  through  the  poorhouse  asylums  of 
the  state.  That  first  year,  as  a  matter  of  course,  our  bill  was  lost, 
public  opinion  not  having  yet  been  sufficiently  educated  to  sustain  it; 
the  second  year  the  bill  was  again  lost,  but,  owing  to  increased  popular 
support,  and  the  strong  advocacy  of  the  president  and  other  members  of 
the  State  Board  of  Charities,  it  was  passed  by  the  senate  and  made  great 
progress  in  the  assembly;  the  third  year  the  measure  received  the  unani- 
mous and  powerful  support  of  the  newly-created  State  Commission  in 
Lunacy,  and  became  a  law,  after  a  prolonged  and  bitter  contest.  It  is 
known  to-day  in  the  State  of  New  York  as  the  State  Care  Act  of  1890. 
(Laws  of  New  York,  1890,  Chap.  126.) 

The  following  year,  upon  figures  furnished  by  the  State  Commission 
in  Lunacy,  and  again  acting  in  concert  with  the  State  Commission  and 
the  State  Board,  the  association  introduced  its  State  Care  Appropriation 
bill,  asking  for  a  grant  of  ^454,850  for  buildings  and  equipment.  More 
than  this  was  not  needed,  owing  to  the  near  completion  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence State  Hospital.  Again  there  was  opposition,  but,  by  this  time, 
owing  to  the  support  given  the  reform  movement  by  the  entire  press, 
the  people  had  become  fully  aware  of  the  condition  of  the  insane  in  the 
poorhouses,  and  would  no  longer  tolerate  delay.  Every  dollar  we 
needed  was  granted,  by  unanimous  vote  of  the  senate,  by  a  large  ma- 
jority vote  in  the  assembly.  This  ended  the  contest— the  long  four 
years'  battle  had  been  fought  and  won!  (Laws  of  New  York,  1891, 
Chapter  91.) 

Further  than  this,  the  State  Care  Act  declared  that  when  accommo- 
dations had  been  provided  by  the  state  for  the  insane  from  all  the  poor- 
houses,  the  state  should  bear  the  cost  of  their  entire  maintenance.  Last 
winter,  the  necessary  conditions  having  been  fulfilled.  Governor  Flower 
recommended,  in  his  annual  message,  that  an  appropriation  for  this 
purpose  of  51,300,000  be  made,  to  be  raised  by  special  tax  of  one-third 
of  a  mill.  This  appropriation  was  granted  by  unanimous  vote  ot  the 
legislature  of  1893. 


•  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  67 

To-day  the  insane  from  the  poorhouses  of  fifty-two  counties  are 
under  state  care,  leaving  but  three  counties  whence  they  await  removal. 
The  Monroe  County  Asylum  has  become  the  Rochester  State  Hospital; 
and  -ffls  hoped  that  New  York  and  Kings  counties  will  before  long  join 
in  hoimging  the  entire  state  under  one  uniform  system.  By  the  first  of 
October  next,  we  are  assured  by  the  State  Commission  in  Lunacy,  the 
insane  will  all  have  been  removed  from  every  poorhouse  in  the  state  of 
New  York. 

-  Time  does  not  allow  us  to  dwell  upon  other  important  features  of 
the  State  Care  Act.  But  enough  has  been  said  to  show  how  a  general 
reform,  pronounced  by  experienced  men  impossible  of  accomplish- 
ment, owing  to  the  organized  opposition  of  the  county  officials  of 
one-third  of  the  entire  state,  was  finally  carried  by  the  determined 
efforts  of  a  volunteer  association,  sustained  by  the  press  and  the  peo- 
ple, and  heartily  supported  by  the  State  Commission  in  Lunacy,  and 
commissioners  of  the  State  Board  of  Charities.  No  better  illustration 
could  be  given  of  the  value  of  official  and  volunteer  co-operation. 

In  the  twenty  minutes  allotted  to  this  paper  it  is  not  possible  further 
to  chronicle  the  work  accomplished  by  the  association,  nor  to  speak  of 
that  now  under  way  or  yet  to  be  undertaken.  In  the  near  future  we 
look  to  the  establishment  of  a  state  colony  for  epileptics,  to  the  finding 
of  family  homes  for  dependent  children,  and  the  supervision  of  the 
children  in  those  homes. 

Promotion  of  the  Work  of  Charity  Organization. 
One  large  and  important  department  connected  with  the  earlier  work 
•of  the  association  has  not  been  mentioned,  and  must  be  briefly  spoken 
of.  Before  the  days  of  charity  organization  societies  in  this  country, 
our  visitors  were  constantly  aware  of  the  need  of  preventive  work.  They 
found  inmates  of  poorhouses  who  might  have  been  saved  from  becoming 
paupers,  had  a  helping  hand  been  extended  them  at  some  crisis  in  their 
lives.  It  was  to  meet  this  need  that  a  standing  committee,  "on  the 
elevation  of  the  poor  in  their  homes,"  was  added  to  our  original  plan 
of  work.  To  this  committee  is  due  the  organization  of  district  visiting 
among  the  poor  in  several  of  the  smaller  cities  of  our  state;  the  initia- 
tion, in  1879,  of  the  tenement  house  reform  movement  in  New  York 
city;  an  act  restricting  the  imprisonment  of  witnesses  in  1883;  and  / 
the  formation,  in  1884-85,  of  the  first  Working  Girls'  Clubs  in  the  city 
•of  New  York.      Perhaps,  most  important   of  all,   an   extension   of  the 


68  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

knowledge  of  the  work  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society  of  London, 
with  its  principles  of  self-help  and  self-support,  as  also  the  beautiful 
work  among  the  poor  of  Miss  Octavia  Hill.  Miss  Hill's  papers,  scat- 
tered through  many  English  magazines,  were,  with  the  consent  of  the 
author,  collected  and  published  by  the  association  in  1875,  under  the 
title  of  "Homes  of  the  London  Poor,"  this  being  their  first  appearance 
in  book  form. 

For  eleven  years,  from  1875  to  1886,  this  committee  did  most  im- 
portant service,  and  then,  in  accordance  with  our  principles  of  not 
duplicating  work,  disbanded  to  pass  over  to  the  charity  organization 
societies  of  the  State  of  New  York,  whose  existence  it  had  done  so  much 
to  promote,  the  unfinished  business  of  the  committee  now  properly  be- 
longing to  those  societies. 

Touching  lightly  upon  this,  we  revert  to  the  original  purpose  of  this 
paper,  which,  prepared  for  the  International  Congress  of  Charities,  Cor- 
rection and  Philanthropy  of  the  World's  Congress  Auxiliary  of  the 
World's  Columbian  Exposition,  aims  to  illustrate  the  measure  of  suc- 
cess which  attends  all  philanthropic  work,  when  official  and  volunteer 
bodies  join  forces  and  co-operate  in  behalf  of  reform. 

CO-OPERATION    BETWEEN     VOLUNTARY    AND    OFFICIAL    BODIES. 

The  only  effective  co-operation  between  volunteer  and  official  bodies 
is  that  of  mutual  good  will,  and  the  more  independent  each  is  of  the 
other,  in  organization  and  in  manner  of  work,  the  closer  will  be  the 
co-operation  in  behalf  of  a  common  object,  where  the  right  spirit  pre- 
vails. 

Many  years  ago,  as  far  back  as  1873,  when  the  science  of  organiza- 
tion for  philanthropic  purposes  was  less  well  understood  than  at  present, 
the  association  hoped  that  closer  co-operation  with  our  State  Board  of 
Charities  could  be  obtained  by  giving  to  that  board,  to  whom  we 
already  reported  annually,  the  legal  right  to  appoint  visitors,  it  being 
understood  that  the  visitors  appointed  should  be  nominated  by  the 
association.  The  visitors  were  to  make  duplicate  reports  to  both 
bodies.  This  clumsy  contrivance  was  actually  thought  well'  of  by  us  at  the 
time,  and  the  legislation  we  asked  for  to  put  it  into  operation  was 
granted.  Certainly  it  required  no  prophet  to  see  that  visitors,  working 
under  two  masters,  both,  it  is  true,  desiring  the  same  reforms,  but  with 
inherently  different  methods  of  work,  must  sooner  or  later  receive  con- 
flicting instructions.     The  plan  did  not  work  well.      The  present  ar- 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  69 

rangeraent  by  which,  since  1881,  our  visitors  have  received  their  ap- 
pointment from  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  has  worked  satisfactorily 
in  evejy  respect.  The  association  reports  annually  to  the  State  Board 
of  Charities;  both  support  each  other's  measures  of  reform,  while  neither 
is  responsible  for  the  other's  action,  and  a  closer  co-operation  now 
exists  between  these  two  bodies  than  ever  before. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  cordial  relations  which  exist  to-day  between 
oiir  volunteer  association  and,  I  may  say  without  exaggeration,  the 
state  officers  and  official  boards  of  the  entire  state,  I  will  instance  a  bit 
of  legislation  granted  the  association  by  the  legislature  which  has  just 
closed  its  session. 

Up  to  the  present  time,  while  our  visitors  had  a^^legal  right  of  entrance 
into  the  town  and  county  poorhouses  and  city  almshouses,  they  had 
no  legal  right  to  visit  the  charitable  institutions  owned  by  the  state. 
We  had  always  wished  to  visit  the  state  institutions,  but  when  the  insane 
were  removed  from  the  poorhouses,  we  especially  desired  to  follow  their 
welfare  into  the  state  hospitals;  not  in  any  critical  spirit,  but  as  their 
friends,  as  friends  also  of  the  state  medical  superintendents,  with  whom 
we  had  worked  so  harmoniously  in  behalf  of  state  care  legislation  for 
the  insane.  We  desired,  therefore,  an  amendment  to  our  right-of- 
■entrance  law  of  1 881,  to  enable  us  to  visit  the  state  institutions. 

Let  me  state  briefly  the  support  this  proposed  amendment  received. 
It  had  the  recommendation  to  the  legislature  of  the  Statutory  Revision 
Commission,  in  whose  revision  of  the  law  the  amendment  was  included; 
the  approval  of  the  State  Commission  in  Lunacy;  of  the  president  of 
the  State  Board  of  Charities;  and  last,  but  certainly  not  least,  one  of  the 
oldest  and  most  respected  of  our  state  medical  superintendents  himself 
wrote  to  the  legislature,  warmly  advocating  a  measure  which  was  to 
give  us  the  right  to  inspect  his  own  state  hospital.  No  voice  was  raised 
in  opposition;  the  bill  was  passed  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  both  houses 
of  the  legislature,  and  received  the  approval  of  the  Governor  on  the 
-6th  of  May  last. 

One  more  instance  of  the  degree  of  co-operation  secured  by  the  asso- 
ciation. In  the  interest  of  the  welfare  of  the  insane  we  had  been 
obliged  to  antagonize  the  superintendents  of  the  poor  of  one-third  of 
the  counties  of  the  state — four  years  of  weary  strife,  ended  only  two 
years  ago.  To-day  we  are  invited  by  these  same  men  to  attend  their 
annual  convention,  and  our  secretary  goes  from  this  Congress  to  meet 


70  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

with  them;  they  are  now  among  the  most  earnest  supporters  of  state 
care  for  the  insane;  and  this  spring  we  joined  hands  in  behalf  of  legis- 
lation to  establish  a  state  colony  for  the  epileptics  now  in  the  poor- 
houses,  working  together  for  this  purpose. 

No  law  will  make  co-operation  possible:  "for  the  letter  killeth,  but 
the  spirit  giveth  life." 

The  association  at  present  commands  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
the  people,  the  support  of  the  entire  press,  and  of  the  leaders  of  both 
political  parties.  Its  strength  lies  in  its  integrity  of  purpose,  its  careful 
study  of  all  reform  movements  before  entering  upon  them,  its  industry,, 
its  freedom  from  all  outside  influences  and  its  absolute  fearlessness. 

As  I  am  to  be  followed  by  a  paper  from  our  sister  society,  the  State 
Charities  Aid  Association  of  New  Jersey,  organized  in  1886,  whose 
successful  career  in  these  few  years  deserves  to  be  recorded  at  this  time 
and  in  this  place,  I  will  say  no  more.  But  I  cannot  close  without  a 
strong  plea  in  behalf  of  the  establishment  of  State  Charities  Aid  Associ- 
ations m  every  state  of  our  Union.  No  one  knows  better  than  your- 
selves how  much  they  are  needed.  My  object,  in  this  paper,  has  been 
to  place  before  the  experienced  minds  and  sober  judgment  of  those  who 
hear  it,  an  evidence  of  the  enormous  power  for  good  which  can  be  ob- 
tained through  the  co-operation  of  our  State  Boards  of  Charities,  our 
State  Commissions  in  Lunacy  with  volunteer  associations  like  the  one 
described.  We  need  organized  bodies  of  visitors  for  every  one  of  our 
public  charitable  institutions  everywhere,  "whose  visits,  inspections  and 
examinations,"  in  the  words  of  our  charter,  "are  hereby  declared  to 
be  for  a  public  purpose,  and  to  be  made  with  a  view  to  public  benefit." 

APPENDIX. 

An  act  in  relation  to  the  State  Charities  Aid  Association.  Approred  by  the 
Gover7ior,  May  6,  1893.      State  of  New  York,  Laws  of  1893,  Chap.  635. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  JVe-w  Vorh^  represented  in  Senate  and  Assembly,  do  enact  as 
follows  : 

Section  i.  Any  justice  of  the  supreme  court,  on  written  application  of  the  State 
Charities  Aid  Association,  through  its  president  or  other  officer,  designated  by  its 
board  of  managers,  may  grant  to  such  persons,  as  may  be  named  in  said  appli- 
cation, orders  to  enable  such  persons,  or  any  of  them,  as  visitors  of  such  associ- 
ation, to  visit,  inspect  and  examine,  in  behalf  of  said  association,  any  of  the 
public  charitable  institutions  owned  by  the  state,  and  the  county,  town  and 
city  poorhouses  and  almshouses  within  the  state.  The  persons  so  appointed  to- 
visit,  inspect  and  e.xamine  said  institution  or  institutions  shall  reside  in  the  county 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  7  I 

or  counties  from  which  said  institution  or  institutions  receive  their  inmates,  and 
such  appointment  shall  be  made  by  the  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  judicial 
district  in  which  said  visitors  reside.  Each  order  shall  specify  the  institution  to 
be  visited,  inspected  and  examined,  and  the  name  of  each  person  by  whom  such 
visitatroiij  inspection  and  examination  shall  be  made,  and  shall  be  hi  force  for  one 
year  fn>«i'the  date  on  which  it  shall  have  been  granted,  unless  sooner  revoked. 

§  2.  All  persons  in  charge  of  any  such  institution  shall  admit  each  person  named 
in  any  such  order  into  every  part  of  such  institution,  and  render  such  person 
every  possible  facility  to  enable  him  to  make  in  a  thorough  manner  such  visit,  in- 
spectiou  and  examination,  which  are  hereby  declared  to  be  for  a  public  purpose, 
and  to  be  made  with  a  view  to  public  benefit.  Obedience  to  the  orders  herein 
authorized  shall  be  enforced  in  the  same  manner  as  obedience  is  enforced  to  an 
order  or  mandate  made  by  a  court  of  record. 

§  3.  The  State  Charities  Aid  Association  shall  make  annual  reports  of  the 
results  of  its  visits  and  inspections,  made  under  this  act,  to  the  State  Board  of 
Charities  upon  matters  relating  to  the  institutions  subject  to  the  visitation  of  said 
Board;  and  to  the  State  Commission  in  Lunacy  upon  matters  relating  to  the  insti- 
tutions subject  to  inspection  or  control  by  said  Commission.  Said  reports  shall 
be  made  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  December  for  each  preceding  fiscal  year. 

§  4.  Chapter  three  hundred  and  twenty-three  of  the  laws  of  eighteen  hundred 
and  eighty-one  is  hereby  repealed. 

§  5.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 


72  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


STATE  CHARITIES  AID  ASSOCIATION  OF  NEW  JERSEY. 

BY  MRS.    EMILY  E.   WILLIAMSON,   OF  ELIZABETH,   NEW  JERSEY. 

This  association  was  organized  in  Morristown  in  the  year  1881,  and 
from  that  time  until  the  year  1886  work  was  done  in  that  county  alone 
in  a  quiet  unostentatious  manner. 

The  greatest  achievement  of  the  county  society  was  the  organization 
of  the  Morris  County  Children's  Home,  a  noble  charity  which  has 
deservedly  prospered.  To  it  the  children  in  the  almshouse,  three  years 
old  and  over,  were  at  once  removed,  and  to  this  home  the  freeholders 
continue  to  send  all  pauper  children,  paying  for  each  child  one  dollar 
and  a  half  per  week.  It  was  determined  by  this  county  society  to 
enlarge  the  field  of  operation  to  cover  the  entire  state,  and  to  this  end 
a  notice  of  incorporation  was  issued  by  the  county  society  signed  by 
the  officers,  Henry  W.  Miller,  president;  George  H.  Danforth,  vice- 
president;  Julia  K.  Colles,  secretary.  It  was  stated  in  this  notice  that 
the  general  object  of  the  society  "is  to  promote  the  improvement  of  the 
mental,  moral  and  physical  condition  of  the  inmates  of  all  charitable 
and  penal  institutions  in  the  state  of  New  Jersey,  and  in  particular  of 
all  state  institutions,  county  poorhouses  and  city  almshouses,  prisons, 
jails,  penitentiaries  and  reformatories,  lunatic  asylums,  orphan  asylums, 
and  of  all  places  where,  for  charitable,  penal  or  reformatory  purposes, 
any  individual  is  supported  at  the  public  charge,  and  to  induce  the 
adoption  by  the  community  at  large  of  such  measures  in  the  organiza- 
tion and  administration  of  both  public  and  private  charity  as  may  de- 
velop the  self-respect  and  increase  the  power  of  self-support  of  the 
poorer  classes  in  society." 

Thereafter  the  following  bill  was  introduced  into  the  senate  by  Hon- 

James  C  Youngblood,  March  22d,  1886,  and  was  signed  by  Governor 

Abbett,  April    i6th: 

An  act  to  confer  upon  the  State  Charities  Aid  Association  of  New 
Jersey,  an  association  incorporated  under  the  provisions  of  the  act  enti- 
tled "An  act  to  incorporate  benevolent  and  charitable  associations, 
approved  April  ninth,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-five," 
the  power  to  visit,  inspect  and  examine  the  county  and  town  poorhouses, 


•  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  73 

jails,  asylums  and  other  public  reformatory  and  penal  institutions  of  this 
state.-''' 

1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  General  Assembly  of  the  State 
of  Now  Jersey,  That  any  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  this  state  is 
hereby- authorized  to  grant,  on  a  written  application  to  him  of  a 
majority  of  the  board  of  managers  of  the  State  Charities  Aid  Associa- 
tion of  New  Jersey  =*"  *  *  to  such  person  or  persons  as  may  be 
named  in  such  application,  an  order  enabling  such  person  or  persons 
to-'visit,  inspect  and  examine,  in  behalf  of  such  association,  any 
of  the  county,  town,  township,  or  city  poorhouses,  prisons,  jails, 
penitentiaries,  reformatories,  and  lunatic  or  orphan  asylums,  located 
within  any  of  the  counties  in  which  said  justice  may  be  appointed 
to  hold  the  circuit  court  thereof;  and  every  such  order  shall  specify 
the  institutions  to  be  visited,  inspected  and  examined,  and  the  names 
of  the  person  or  persons  by  whom  the  visitation,  inspection  and 
examination  are  to  be  made,  and  shall  be  in  force  for  one  year  from  the 
date  on  which  it  shall  have  been  granted,  unless  sooner  revoked. 

2.  And  be  it  enacted.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  any  and  all  per- 
sons in  charge  of  each  and  every  poorhouse,  prison,  jail  or  other  insti- 
tution embraced  in  the  order  specified  in  the  first  section  of  this  act,  to 
admit  any  or  all  of  the  persons  named  in  the  said  order  of  the  justice  of 
the  supreme  court  into  every  part  of  such  institution,  and  to  render  the 
said  person  or  persons  so  named  in  said  order  every  facility  within  their 
power  to  enable  them  to  make,  in  a  thorough  manner,  their  visit,  inspec- 
tion and  examination,  which  are  hereby  declared  to  be  for  a  public  pur- 
pose, and  to  be  made  with  a  view  to  public  benefit;  obedience  to  the 
order  herein  authorized  shall  be  enforced  in  the  same  manner  and  with 
like  effect  as  obedience  is  enforced  to  any  other  order  or  mandate  made 
by  such  justice. 

3.  And  be  it  enacted.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  said  associa- 
tion to  make  an  annual  report  to  the  legislature  of  this  state. 

4.  And  be  it  enacted,  That  this  act  shall  be  deemed  a  public  act 
and  shall  take  effect  immediately. 

Approved  April  i6th,  1886. 

After  the  passage  of  the  bill  creating  the  state  association  the  work 
went  vigorously  on,  and  to-day  ten  of  the  most  important  counties  of 
the  state  are  included  in  the  organization.  As  will  be  gathered  from 
the  reading  of  the  bill,  the  association  has  under  its  jurisdiction  the 
penal  institutions  of  the  state,  making  its  duties  far  more  complex  than 
those  of  the  New  York  organization.  The  association  from  the  first 
has  numbered  among  its  members  prominent  men  and  women,  who 
have  given  their  influence  to  all  proposed  reforms,  working  not  only  in 


74  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS   OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

the  interest  of  the  pauper  and  criminal  classes,  but  also  with  a  desire  to 
protect  the  taxpayers. 

Public  opinion  has  been  aroused  on  many  important  questions,  and  it 
is  found  that  the  association  is  recognized  everywhere  as  a  power  for 
good.  The  state  prison  has  from  the  first  been  opened  to  the  associa- 
tion. A  great  deal  has  been  done  for  the  prisoners,  principally  from  an 
educational  standpoint,  religious  and  secular.  The  parole  bill  now  in 
operation  in  our  state  was  drawn  at   the  suggestion  of  this  association. 

The  board  have  in  many  ways,  by  petitions,  &c.,  urged  the  building 
of  an  intermediary  prison  on  the  plan  suggested  by  the  commission 
appointed  by  the  Governor  two  years  ago,  of  which  Charlton  T.  Lewis, 
LL.  D.,  was  chairman. 

Governor  Wertz,  in  his  first  annual  message,  January,  1893,  urges 
the  legislature  to  appropriate  money  for  the  intermediary  prison;  an 
appropriation  will  undoubtedly  be  made  by  the  next  legislature  for  this 
purpose.  At  the  meeting  of  the  association  held  in  Trenton,  May  14th, 
of  the  present  year,  the  following  extract  was  read  from  a  letter  written 
by  warden  Patterson  to  the  secretary: 

"To  the  subject  of  providing  for  discharged  convicts,  I  have  given  a 
great  deal  of  thought,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  no  more  laudable  thing 
could  be  done  in  our  state  than  that  of  providing  some  way  to  amelio- 
rate the  condition  of  those  who  have  been  unfortunate  enough  to  be 
placed  under  our  control.  Other  states  are  making  suitable  provisions 
for  this  class,  and  all  of  the  states  are  considering  the  subject." 

A  committee  was  immediately  appointed  to  consider  and  report  upon 
the  best  plan  for  taking  care  of  discharged  and  paroled  prisoners.  This 
committee  will  complete  its  work  and  report  to  the  Governor  in  Decem- 
ber next. 

An  act  was  drawn  by  the  law  committee  of  the  association,  which 
became  a  law  in  1888,  providing  for  the  separate  confinement  of  youths 
under  sixteen  years  of  age  from  older  criminals,  in  the  jails,  workhouses 
and  penitentiaries.  Clause  3  of  the  same  act  provides  for  the  separate 
detention  of  youths  in  the  station-houses  and  lockups. 

It  has  been  found  difficult  to  make  the  various  boards  of  freeholders 
conform  to  the  provisions  of  this  act,  owing  to  the  fact  that  alterations 
in  the  jails,  costing  money,  were  required.  But  by  degrees,  under  strong 
pressure,  the  requirements  of  the  law  will  be  fulfilled. 

The  distribution  of  magazines  and  proper  books  in  the  jails  seems  in 
itself  a  little  matter.     But  in  every  case,  and  they  are  many,  where  it  has 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  75 

been  faithfully  carried  out,  the  result  has  been  good.      Wardens  who  have 
been  at  first  opposed  to  the  plan,  acknowledge  the  good  results. 

The  establishment  of  religious  services  in  many  of  the  jails  has  been 
of  greaLbenefit  to  the  prisoners. 

The  station-houses  in  our  large  cities  have  been  greatly  improved 
through  the  influence  of  the  association. 

The  county  asylums  have  been  carefully  inspected  and  many  sugges- 
tions made  by  the  association  carried  out. 

In  the  few  almshouses  of  our  state  where  insane  persons  are  kept, 
they  are  well  cared  for,  except  in  the  matter  of  special  medical  attend- 
ance, which  is,  of  course,  of  great  and  vital  importance. 

In  the  city  hospitals,  many  good  results  have  come  from  suggestions 
made,  such  as  the  adding  of  new  wings  for  alcoholic  patients  and  better 
sanitary  arrangements. 

In  our  state  are  forty-one  almshouses  of  a  public  character.  Twelve 
are  county  almshouses  supported  by  a  county  tax.  In  twenty-nine 
townships  are  township  poorhouses,  a  few  of  which  are  private.  Great 
abuses  have  existed  in  many  of  them.  The  work  of  this  association  has 
nowhere  shown  better  results. 

When  the  committee  began  their  investigations,  as  a  rule  the  alms- 
houses were  found  to  be  dirty,  with  no  sanitary  regulations  or  conveni- 
ences, and  no  such  thing  as  separation  of  sexes.  The  list  of  those 
included  in  the  above  description  is  growing  less  each  year,  owing  to 
the  work  of  the  association.  The  four  almshouses  that  were  from  the 
first  found  to  be  in  first  class  condition,  with  separation  of  the  sexes, 
were  the  Newark  and  Paterson  city  almshouses  and  those  of  Cumber- 
land and  Hudson  counties. 

An  act  for  the  better  regulation  of  the  almshouses  of  this  state  was 
passed  May  6th,  1889,  and  amended  March  12th,  1890,  at  the  special 
request  of  the  association,  calling  for  the  complete  separation  of  the 
sexes  in  all  parts  of  the  buildings  and  yards,  an  exception  being  made 
in  favor  of  old  married  people  living  together  as  man  and  wife.  It  is 
found  almost  a  herculean  task  to  enforce  the  requirements  of  this  law. 
It  is  being  aecomplished  slowly,  but  it  requires  the  greatest  watchfulness 
on  the  part  of  the  state  and  local  committees  and  the  general  secre- 
tary. In  the  small  almshouses  it  will  be  evaded,  if  possible.  The  treat- 
ment of  women  in  our  factories,  shops  and  stores  is  another  ])oint  that  a 
special  committee  from  the  board  is  considering.  The  condition  of  the 
tenement  houses  and  districts  has  also  received  special  attention. 


76  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

The  secretary  is  in  receipt  of  letters  from  all  parts  of  the  state,  call- 
ing attention  to  abuses  and  violations  of  the  laws.  This  last  is  one  of  the 
most  important  questions  now  receiving  the  attention  of  our  members. 
The  laws  as  they  stand  are,  many  of  them,  all  that  is  needed,  but  never 
having  been  enforced,  they  have  become  obsolete.  The  secretary  is 
preparing  for  the  use  of  the  members  of  the  association,  a  complete  list 
of  all  laws  regulating  the  care  of  paupers,  the  insane  and  criminals. 
Such  a  list  will  greatly  aid  the  reformatory  work  already  begun.  It  is 
best  to  begin  by  enforcing  the  laws,  rather  than  to  ask  for  further  legis- 
lation. 

The  great  success  of  the  association  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  it 
has  from  the  first  been  wisely  guided;  sentimental  criticism  has  at  no 
time  been  allowed;  facts  with  practical  results  have  governed  the  board 
of  managers,  upon  which  are  representatives  from  each  county  and 
town. 


CITAi  'TV    ORGANIZATION.  77 


ARE'C^BOR  COLONIES  NEEDED  IN   THE    UNITED  STATES? 

BY    MRS.     CHARLES    R.     LOWELL,     OF    NEW    YORK. 

TJie  term  labor  colony,  as  used  in  the  following  paper,  means  a  farm 
managed  by  a  charitable  corporation  or  a  municipality,  and  having  for 
its  object  the  training  of  the  laborers  who  work  upon  it,  with  a  view  to 
their  being  fitted  eventually  to  earn  a  living  elsewhere.* 

The  Cedar  Hill  farm,  of  200  acres,  at  Plainville,  New  Jersey,  was 
established  in  1874  by  Mr.  Joseph  W.  Drexel,  of  New  York  city,  for 
the  purpose  of  helping  men  from  New  York,  and  was  maintained  until 
1888. 

Rev.  John  Dooly,  who  was  connected  with  the  management,  writes 
in  regard  to  it: 

"We  had  no  trouble  to  get  men  to  go.  They  worked  willingly  ten 
hours  each  day,  were  obedient  and  gave  good  satisfaction  to  us  and  to 
those  who  took  them.  The  average  cost  per  day  for  the  time  the  farm 
was  running  was  about  20  cents  per  man.  If  we  had  kept  an  average 
of  twenty  men  on  the  farm,  the  cost  would  not  have  been  over  10  cents 
a  day.  *  *  The  men  received  no  pay  and  were  taught  the  rudi- 
ments of  farming,  which  accounts  for  the  large  number  who  went  to 
farm  work. 

"The  farm  could  accommodate  20  men  at  one  time,  but  the  numbers 
were  kept  down  to  save  expense,  which  was  very  unwise. 

"The  expense  of  administration  was  for  superintendent  $480  per  year; 
for  hired  woman  for  work  $180;  for  postage  and  other  incidentals,  in 
all  about  $100;  total  about  $760,  and  the  subsistence  of  three  persons, 
superintendent,  wife  and  girl,  or  woman,  §219;  total  ^979.  The  cost  of 
above  was  taken  into  account  in  estimating  the  expense  per  day. 

"Mr.  Joseph  W.  Drexel  bought  and  owned  the  farm  and  met  a// the 
expense  of  the  same. 

The  men  signed  an  agreement  when  they  went  there,  to  work  for 
their  board  and  such  instruction  as  they  should  receive  in  farming. 
This  was  to  guard  against  any  claim  for  wages.  Working  clothes  were 
provided  for  all,  their  own  clothes  were  cleaned  and  mended  and  laid 
aside  till  they  left  the  farm.     A  Sunday  suit  was  also  provided  for  them, 

*1  know  of  but  one  experiment  of  the  kind  having  been  made  in  the  United 
States. 


78  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

and  all  who  wished  went  to  church  and  sat  with  the  superintendent's 
family  in  the  family  pews  provided  by  Mr.  Drexel. 

"An  opportunity  was  presented  and  an  offer  made  to  Mr.  Drexel  for 
the  purchase  of  the  farm  in  1886,  by  which  he  would  have  received  all  he 
had  spent  and  at  least  7  per  cent,  interest." 

The  following  statistics  for  five  years  are  all  that  can  now  be  fur- 
nished: 

Cedar  Hill  Farm,   Plainville,  Somerset  Co.,   N.  J. 

STATISTICS  REGARDING  MEN.  1883        1884        1885        1886        1887 

Number  of  different  men 38          36          ;^^  32  44 

Total  number  of  days i534     1778     2036  1340  1614 

Average  number  of  days  per  man 40}^      49H          ^^  4^\^  3^^} 

Men  sent  to  situations  on  farms 18          20          13  12  22 

Returned  to  trade  or  friends 541  i 

Returned  to  New  York 9            7          13  16  16 

Men  on  farm  December  31st 66545 

Total  number  of  men  per  day 4I       4j^        52/3  4  433. 

Died ...  I 

It  must  remain  a  question  whether  a  constant  population  of  twenty 
suitable  men  could  have  been  found  for  the  farm. 

All  successful  experiments  even  approaching  the  labor  colony  in 
character,  hitherto  attempted  in  this  country,  have  contemplated  the 
permanent  settlement  of  the  persons  to  be  benefited  upon  the  land  they 
have  helped  to  develop,  and  however  philanthropic  such  enterprises 
have  been  in  intention,  they  have,  I  believe,  invariably  been  managed 
upon  business  and  not  upon  charitable  principles,  depending  upon  the 
character  and  enterprise  of  the  settlers  for  success,  building  thus  upon  a 
sure  foundation. 

The  description  or  consideration  of  such  enterprises  does  not  come 
within  the  scope  of  the  present  paper,  nor  within  that  of  the  sixth  sec- 
tion of  the  International  Congress. 

The  German  labor  colonies,  of  which  twenty-two  have  been  estab- 
lished during  the  past  ten  years,  and  the  Hadleigh  colony  of  the  Salva- 
tion Army  in  England,  belong  to  the  type  of  enterprises!  have  in  mind. 
These  were  established  to  benefit  two  classes  of  men : 

I.  Those  able  and  willing  to  work,  but  for  whom  there  is  no  work; 
or  in  other  words,  those  who,  through  bad  social  conditions,  are  unable 


^  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  79 

to  find  any  means  of  earning  a  living,  the  farms  being  intended  to  give 
to  sucifmen  an  opportunity  not  to  be  found  elsewhere. 

2.  Those  who,  by  their  own  faults  and  weaknesses,  have  been  driven 
from-'flie  natural  channels  of  occupation,  the  farms  being  intended  as 
placft?'T)f  refuge  for  such,  where  they  will  be  trained  and  developed,  so 
that  they  may  become,  eventually,  self-supporting  members  of  society, 
either  in  their  own  or  some  other  country. 

-The"plan  is  a  most  alluring  one.  It  seems  to  solve  the  problem  which 
most  distresses  the  modern  conscience,  "What  can  be  done  for  the  man 
who  wants  to  work,  but  for  whom  there  is  no  work?"  For  in  approach- 
ing this  problem  it  is  always  assumed  that  the  majority  of  those  to  be 
provided  for  are  of  this  class.  The  existence  of  the  second  class,  of  the 
men  with  faults  and  weaknesses  which  make  them  unable  and  unwilling 
to  work,  is  practically  ignored.  There  is  an  extreme  haziness  of  mind 
in  dealing  with  the  whole  subject  of  help  to  the  "unemployed."  It  is 
so  much  easier  to  mould  circumstances  than  character  that  the  tempta- 
tion always  presents  itself  to  do  the  easy  thing  and  trust  that  the  diffi- 
cult thing  will  do  itself.  In  this  case  the  assumption  is,  that,  when  the 
opportunity  is  given  to  work  and  to  learn,  a  large  proportion  of  the  men 
to  be  helped  will  be  ready  to  profit  by  it. 

This  I  do  not  believe  to  be  the  fact,  at  least  in  the  United  States. 

I  do  not  believe  that  labor  colonies  are  needed  in  this  country  to 
provide  an  opportunity  to  work,  and  although  I  do  believe  that  they 
are  needed  for  purposes  of  training,  I  think  that  they  must  be  under 
public  control  or  they  will  fail  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 

My  object  in  this  paper  is  to  sustain  the  above  position  by  facts  and 
by  argument. 

However  true  it  may  be  that  in  European  countries,  and  even  in 
England,  there  is  a  large  class  of  able-bodied  men  who  want  to  work, 
and  know  how  to  work,  and  yet  cannot  find  any  work  to  do,  I  do 
not  believe  that  there  is  any  such  class  of  men  in  this  country.  That  in 
New  York  or  in  any  large  city  there  are  always  certain  individuals  so 
situated,  must,  of  course,  be  true;  but  the  natural  agencies  are  sufficient 
to  dispose  of  them,  and  gradually  each  man  finds  the  place  that  needs 
him  and  there  is  no  necessity  for  the  intrusion  of  any  unnatural  means 
of  providing  work  for  such  men. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  in  New  York,  if  anywhere  in  this 
country,  must  be  found  the  greatest  number  of  men  out  of  work;  and 
yet  in  New  York  it  is  not  able-bodied,  intelligent,  competent  men  who 


8o  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

seek  the  aid  of  charitable  societies  to  provide  them  with  the  means  of 
earning  a  living. 

So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  it  is  the  experience  of  such  societies 
that  the  men  who  seek  vainly  for  work  are  usually  either  unable  or  un- 
willing to  earn  a  living  by  regular  labor. 

To  the  question  "To  what  do  you  ascribe  the  inability  to  find  work 
of  the  men  who  apply  to  your  society  for  help?"  the  following  answers 
were  given: 

From  the  superintendent  of  the  United  Hebrew  Charities:  "Unwill- 
ingness to  accept  positions  offered  and  their  love  of  large  cities.  We 
could  place  most  all  our  proteges,  especially  unskilled,  if  they  would 
leave  the  city." 

From  the  superintendent  of  the  Christian  Aid  to  Employment:  "In- 
temperance and  incompetence." 

From  an  ex-superint*endent  of  the  Bowery  Branch  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association:  "Many  are  intemperate  or  inefficient,  or  do  not 
have  a  trade  perfectly,  or  are  clerks.  The  majority  of  the  unemployed 
have  worked  at  light  work." 

From  the  general  agent  of  the  Association  for  Improving  the  Condi- 
tion of  the  Poor:  "Old  age  and  sickness,  laziness,  incompetency,  intem- 
perance." 

From  the  German  Society  of  the  City  of  New  York:  "Suspension  of 
work  on  buildings  and  all  kinds  of  out-door  labor.  Strikes  and  closing 
of  factories." 

From  the  superintendent  of  the  Bowery  Branch  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association:     "Dissipation." 

From  the  officers  and  agents  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society: 

1.  "I  think  that,  in  general,  the  inability  of  men  who  apply  to  the 
C.  O.  S.  to  find  work  may  be  ascribed  to  general  shiftlessness  and  in- 
disposition to  work,  and  to  lack  of  any  training  which  would  enable 
them  to  do  anything  well." 

2.  "An  indisposition  to  work  regularly  and  to  keep  at  it.'* 

3.  "Physical  ailments,  intemperance  and  shiftlessness." 

4.  "Intemperance,  incapacity  and  shiftlessness." 

5.  "They  are  generally  lacking  in  energy  and  are  not  skilled  in 
any  branch  of  work.  If  Jews,  75  per  cent,  are  suffering  from  some 
physical  weakness;  other  nationalities  usually  are  brought  to  the  condi- 
tion in  which  we  find  them  through  drink.  I  believe  that  prenatal  in- 
fluences have  a  great  deal  to  do  with  their  condition." 

6.  "Lack  of  skill,  incompetency  (lack  of  ability  to  acquire  skill), 
unreliability.  During  certain  seasons  the  cessation  of  such  work  as  the 
applicants  are  able  to  perform — mostly  laboring  work — and  dullness  of 


CHARITY   ORGANIZATION.  8 1 

trade.     The  latter  class  usually  have  steady   work  during  nine  months 
of  the 'year." 

7.  < 'Intemperance  and  inefficiency." 

8.  •"'intemperance,  shiftlessness  and  roving  disposition." 

In  xpgard  to  the  average  time  during  which  an  able-bodied,  intelli- 
gent man,  speaking  English,  would  be  out  of  work  in  New  York  City,  I 
have  received  the  following  statement  of  opinion: 

From  the  superintendent  of  the  United  Hebrew  Charities:  "He  should 
not  be  out  of  work  over  one  week." 

From  the  superintendent  of  the  Christian  Aid  to  Employment:  "If 
directed  promptly  to  the  proper  channels,  about  forty-eight  hours, 
unless  he  is  hopelessly  incompetent." 

From  an  ex-superintendent;,  of  the  Bowery  Branch  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association:  "Depends  on  his  business.  A  laborer  soon  finds 
work.  The  trades  are  difficult  to  get  work  in.  Unions  and  strikes  limit 
the  opportunities." 

From  the  general  agent  of  the  Association  for  Improving  the  Condi- 
tion of  the  Poor:  "One  month;  but,  if  skilled,  he  would  often  have  to 
resort  to  unskilled  labor  first." 

From  the  German  Society  of  the  city  of  New  York:  "Men  who  are 
able  and  willing  to  do  all  kinds  of  work,  only  a  few  weeks,  except  in 
the  winter  months." 

From  the  officers  and  agents  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society: 

1.  "I  should  think  that  the  average  time  that  such  men  would  be 
out  of  work  in  this  city  would  be,  if  skilled,  ten  to  fourteen  days;  if 
unskilled,  twenty  to  twenty-five  days." 

2.  "Perhaps  a  week  or  two.  It  depends  largely  upon  the  man 
fiimself,  of  course.  Many  such  men  would  get  work  again  immedi- 
ately; others  might  not  get  it  in  six  months  or  a  year." 

3.  "Several  weeks." 

4.  "If  the  labor  conditions  are  normal,  one  or  two  weeks." 

5.  "Less  than  three  months." 

6.  "We  can  always  find  employment  for  such  exceptions  at  once." 
Before  proceeding,  I  wish  to  guard  against  the  error  of  assuming  that 

the  above  testimony  from  the  charitable  societies  of  New  York  proves 
more  than  it  does.  Fortunately,  the  able-bodied,  honest  and  indus- 
trious man  has  a  deep-rooted  distrust  and  dislike  for  all  means  of  help 
which  savors  of  what  is  technically  called  "charity,"  and  therefore  the 
fact  that  the  societies  I  have  quoted  receive  requests  for  aid  from  such 
men  very  rarely,  does  not  prove  conclusively  that  there  are  none 
needing  help,  or  who  ought  to  be  helped  in  their  efforts  to  find  employ- 
ment; but  it  does  prove  that  such  men  cannot  be  reached  by  any  enter- 
prise founded  and  mamtained  as  a  "charity,"  and  consecjuently  that  no 
6 


/. 


82  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

labor  colony  of  the  kind  considered  in  this  paper  could  be  of  use  to 
them.  Labor  bureaus,  or  exchanges,  maintained  by  employers  and 
workmen  as  a  means  of  mutual  convenience,  or  by  labor  unions,  (in 
either  case  purely  as  a  business  matter)  have  been  suggested  as  one 
means  of  dealing  with  the  difficulties  which  undoubtedly  do  exist  even 
for  the  able-bodied,  intelligent  and  industrious  man,  who  is  temporarily  . 
out  of  work;  but  here  I  am  trenching  on  matters  foreign  to  the  theme  I 
have  undertaken  to  discuss. 

It  seems  to  me,  however,  that  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  the  above  testi- 
mony proves  that  in  New  York  there  is  no  class  of  able-bodied,  intelli- 
gent and  industrious  men  seeking  work  who  cannot  find  it,  and  that  in- 
dividual men  of  the  character  and  in  the  situation  described,  could  not 
be  helped  by  any  "charitable"  enterprise,  and  also  that  what  is  true  of 
New  York  city  is  true  of  the  rest  of  the  United  States.  In__Qlher_words, 
that,  however  bad  the  social  conditions  in  the  United  States  may  be, 
they  are  not  yet  so  bad  that  men,  able  and  willing  to  work,  cannot 
generally  find  employment  through  the  usual  channels;  and  conse- 
quently it  must  be  acknowledged  that  there  is,  as  yet,  no  necessity  and 
no  field  for  any  artificial  means  of  providing  work  for  such  men. 

This  conclusion  makes  it  unnecessary  for  me  to  consider  Labor  Colo- 
nies so  far  as  they  are  intended  to  funiish  an  opportunity  to  work  to  men 
able  and  willing  to  earn  their  own  living.  Such  men  in  the  United 
States  have  the  opportunity  and  use  it,  with  how  much  unnecessary 
attendant  hardship  it  is  not  our  province  to  stop  and  consider.  That  a 
wiser  system  of  taxation,  that  a  more  highly  developed  sense  of  justice 
among  men  who  now  control  the  opportunities  to  work,  and  among  work- 
ing men  themselves,  would  undoubtedly  result  in  a  very  much  better 
and  happier  condition  for  the  industrious  and  able-bodied  man,  both 
while  he  seeks  employment  and  after  he  has  found  it,  can  not  be 
doubted;  but  those  are  questions  of  greater  importance  than  any  pre- 
sented to  us  to-day  and  are  to  be  considered  by  students  of  social  and 
political  economy  and  not  by  students  of  charity  and  correction. 

Since,  then,  it  appears  that  the  bulk  of  the  men  in  the  United  States 
who  cannot  find  permanent  employment,  are  in  that  position  because 
of  some  fault  in  themselves,  or  in  other  words,  because  they  cannot 
offer  to  the  community  any  work  which  is  worth  paying  living  wages 
for,  the  problem  to  be  solved  by  us  is  not  that  which  so  troubles  the 
European  and  English  philanthropist,  but  one  much  narrower  and  more 
simple. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  83 

That  there  are  many  men  out  of  work  in  the  United  States  is  true. 
That  they  should  have  work  is  equally  true. 

The-'^roblem  before  us  is,  how  shall  this  be  brought  about,  and  in 
ordet^^o'  reach  the  answer,  it  is  necessary  to  take  up  the  question  of 
the  reason  why  these  men  are  out  of  work  more  in  detail. 

The  answers  given  above  may  be  classed  under  four  heads,  the  defi- 
ciencies'named  being  physical,  mental,  moral  or  industrial.     It  appears 
that  a  man  may  be  too  weak,  too  foolish  and  ignorant,  too  lazy  and  . 
vicious,  or  too' incompetent,  to  secure  permanent  work. 

What  then  shall  be  done  to  meet  the  evils  of  his  remaining  out  of 
work,  which  is  a  condition  disastrous  to  himself  and  others? 

The^^:iiLysicallyjvteak  must  be  relegated  to  the  care  of  the  hospital,  the 
•convalescent  home  or  the  poorhouse.  We  cannot  consider  his  needs 
until  he  is  cured,  and  then  he  will  naturally  fall  into  one  of  the  other 
•classes,  unless  he  finds  his  own  work  normally,  as  a  man  should  and  as 
most  men  do. 

For  the  other  men  incapable  of  earning  a  living,  for  the  ignorant,  the 
lazy,  the  incompetent,  it  appears  that   there  is  but  one  remedy,  educa- 
tion^^training,  development — they  must  be  taught  to  work  and  be  taught 
.  to  want  to  work — their  minds,  their  hands,  their  wills  must  be  trained. 
But  how?     The  natural  answer  would  seem  to  be  "In  a  labor  colony." 
But  should  the  proposed  labor  colony  be  under  the   management  of 
a  private  charitable  corporation,    the  two  horns  of  the  dilemma  pre- 
sented would  be  the  following:     On  the  one  hand  the  colonies  might 
be  managed  upon  principles  which  would  make   them  agreeable  places 
of  residence  to  those  for  whose  benefit  they  were  established,   in   which 
case  they  would  certainly  flock  to  them.     The  object  of  the  colony, 
however,  would  be  the  training  of  the   inmate   for  future  independent 
life  and   his  final   passing  out  of  the  colony  into  such  a  life,  and  he 
-could  gain  no  such  training  in  any  place  where  strenuous  exertion  was 
not   required   and  strict  self-control  inculcated — that  is   in   any  place 
where  his  comfort  or  pleasure  were   considered  before   his  real  good. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  were  the  colony  managed  so  that  his  real  good 
was  sought,  he,    being   unused    to   exertion,    to    order,    to   self-control, 
would  find  the  process  intended  for  his  benefit  so   extremely  unpleasant 
that   he   would  leave,    if  at   liberty  to   do    so,   and    the  labor   colony 
would  soon  find  itself  without  laborers. 
Either  result  would  be  a  complete  failure. 


84  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

Can  this  dilemma  he  avoided?  Can  labor  colonies  of  such  a  char- 
acter as  will  benefit  the  lazy,  the  vicious  and  the  incompetent,  and  in 
which  they  will  nevertheless  stay,  be  maintained  m  the  United  States? 
Only  by  employing  compulsion  to  retain  the  inmates,  and  this  can  be 
done  only  by  putting  the  labor  colonies  under  public  control. 

In  every  state  of  this  Union  there  already  exists  some  system  by 
which  the  local  government  deals  with  the  lazy,  the  vicious  and  the  in- 
competent, when,  for  whatever  cause,  it  is  thought  worth  while  to  deal 
with  them  at  all,  instead  of  leaving  them  to  go  to  destruction  without 
an  added  impetus  from  official  cruelty  and  folly. 

The  jails  and  the  poorhouses  all  over  the  United  States  (with  some 
exceptions  in  New  England)  seem  to  be  carefully  prepared  to  do  as 
much  harm  as  human  ingenuity  could  devise  to  the  unhappy  beings 
who  are  condemned  to  enter  them.  They  have  not  even  a  deterrent 
influence  upon  the  bulk  of  their  inmates — they  present  all  the  features 
which  attract  and  degrade  them,  and  none  which  would  repel  and 
might  elevate  them. 

As  a  rule,  the  persons  sentenced  to  jail  or  poorhouse  as  a  punish- 
ment are  weak  in  body,  mind  and  character.  What  they  desire  is 
food,  warmth,  shelter  and  companionship,  provided  all  these  can  be  . 
gained  without  exertion  on  their  own  part.  Their  muscles  are  flabby 
and  unused  to  exercise,  their  minds  are  low  and  empty,  their  charac- 
ters wanting,  so  far  as  appears,  in  all  moral  attributes.  What  they 
need  is  training,  careful  and  prolonged;  years  would  scarcely  suffice  to 
develop  them  physically,  mentally  and  morally  into  human  beings 
capable  of  self-respect,  self-support  and  self-development.  What  is  the 
practice  in  almost  every  state  in  the  Union?  Such  beings  as  I  have 
described  are  shut  up  in  jail  or  poorhouse  for  a  term  of  from  ten  days 
to  six  months,  in  complete  idleness,  in  bad  air,  in  dirt,  and  among 
companions  of  the  same  nature  as  themselves,  and  this  is  repeated  some- 
times several  times  in  one  year.  The  wonder  is  that  the  ensuing  deg- 
radation is  not  more  rapid  and  more  marked  even  than  it  is. 

What  system  should  be  adopted  in  place  of  this  hideous   travesty  of 
justice  and  common  sense  ? 

In    every   township  or  county  a   large  farm  should  be  bought,    on 
which  all  men,  who  by  begging  or  vagrancy  confess   themselves   to  be 
unable  to  provide   a  fitting  livelihood  for  themselves,  should  be  trained 
with  care,  for  months   or  even  for  years,  should   it   appear  necessary. 
The  object  of  the  institution  should  be  the  education  of  the  inmates  in 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  85 

every  direction.  The  advantages  of  farm  labor  over  other  kinds  of 
work  are  many.  It  is  healthier,  it  does  not  interfere  with  the  work  of 
men-'^tside,  men  trained  in  farm  work  can  get  employment  away 
fronvnCiVies,  a  farm  supports  in  part,  at  least,  those  engaged  upon  it.  In 
a  large  part  of  the  United  States  indoor  occupation  must  also  be  pro- 
vided for  the  inmates  during  a  portion  of  the  year  when  outside  work 
is -iK)t  possible,  and  this  should  be  provided  with  the  object  of  the  fur- 
ther development  of  the  faculties  of  the  inmates,  one  of  the  most 
important  being  the  faculty  of  persistent  application.  Mr.  R.  L.  Dug- 
dale  in_his,  "Study  in  Crime,  Pauperism,  Disease  and  Heredity"  called 
"The  Jukes,"  says  (p.  59)  "After  disease,  the  most  uniformly  notice- 
able trait  of  the  true  criminal  is  that  he  lacks  the  element  of  continuity 
of  effort.  Steady,  plodding  work,  which  is  the  characteristic  not  only 
of  honest  and  successful  individuals,  but  also  of  all  nations  that  have 
made  a  mark  in  history,  is  deficient  in  him,  and  needs  to  be  organized 
as  a  constituent  of  his  character." 

This  applies  equally  or  more  strongly  to  the  pauper  or  vagrant. 
Many  men  who  will  work  for  a  day  or  two,  or  even  a  week  or  two,  will 
not  continue  at  any  regular  occupation.  Their  bodies  and  their  wills 
are  equally  deficient  and  equally  in  need  of  training. 

That  labor  colonies  are  needed  in  the  United  States  for  the  training 
of  men  unable  and  unwilling  to  work,  and  that  in  order  to  accomplish 
their  object  they  must  be  under  public  control,  I  think  I  have  proved. 
And  I  claim  still  further,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  community  to  substi- 
tute such  colonies  for  the  present  cruel  and  wasteful  jail  and  poorhouse 
method  of  dealing  with  the  criminal  and  pauper  vagrant. 

The  fact  that  the  common  county  jails  of  the  United  States  are  in 
but  few  respects  any  better  than  the  jails  found  and  reported  upon  by 
Howard  in  1776  in  England  and  elsewhere,  and  that  they  bear  a  strong 
resemblance  to  the  prisons  now  existing  in  Russia,  ought  to  inspire  the 
people  of  the  various  states  to  renewed  exertion  to  wipe  out  such  a 
stain  and  disgrace. 

There  is  another  kind  of  labor  colony  which  is  greatly  needed  in  all 
communities.  It  is  that  described  by  General  Booth  of  the  Salvation 
Army  as  an  "Asylum  for  Moral  Lunatics"  and  no  words  can  better 
paint  the  need  or  scope  of  such  an  institution  than  the  following  ex- 
tract from  "Darkest  England"  with  which  I  will  close  my  paper:  | 

"It  is  a  crime  against  the  race  to  allow  those  who  are  so  inveterately 
■depraved  the  freedom  to  wander  abroad,  infect  their  fellows,  prey  upon 


86  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

society,  and  to  multiply  their  kind.  Whatever  else  society  may  do,, 
and  suffer  to  be  done,  this  thing  it  ought  not  to  allow,  any  more  than 
it  should  allow  the  free  perambulation  of  a  mad  dog.  But  before  we 
come  to  this  I  would  have  every  possible  means  tried  to  effect  their 
reclamation.  Let  Justice  punish  them,  and  Mercy  put  her  arms  around 
them;  let  them  be  appealed  to  by  penalty  and  by  reason,  and  by 
every  influence,  human  and  divine,  that  can  possibly  be  brought  to 
bear  upon  them.  Then,  if  all  alike  failed,  their  ability  to  further  curse 
their  fellows  and  themselves  should  be  stayed. 

"They  will  still  remain  objects  worthy  of  infinite  compassion.  They 
should  lead  as  human  a  life  as  is  possible  to  those  who  have  fallen 
under  so  terrible  a  judgment.  They  should  have  their  own  little  cot- 
tages in  their  own  little  gardens,  under  the  blue  sky,  and,  if  possible, 
amid  the  green  fields.  1  would  deny  them  none  of  the  advantages, 
moral,  mental  and  religious,  which  might  minister  to  their  diseased 
minds,  and  tend  to  restore  them  to  a  better  state.  Not  until  the  breath- 
leaves  their  bodies  should  we  cease  to  labour  and  wrestle  for  their  sal- 
vation. But  when  they  have  reached  a  certain  point  access  to  their 
fellow  men  should  be  forbidden.  Between  them  and  the  wide  world 
there  should  be  reared  an  impassable  barrier,  which  once  passed  should 
be  recrossed  no  more  forever.  Such  a  course  must  be  wiser  than  allow- 
ing them  to  go  in  and  out  among  their  fellows,  carrying  with  them  the 
contagion  of  moral  leprosy,  and  multiplying  a  progeny  doomed  before 
its  birth  to  inherit  the  vices  and  diseased  cravings  of  their  unhappy 
parents." 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  87 


LABOR    TESTS    AND    RELIEF    IN    WORK    IN    THE    UNITED 

STATES. 

ALFRED  T.    WHITE,   PRESIDENT  OF  BUREAU  OF  CHARITIES,   BROOKLYN,   N.  Y. 

The  scope  of  this  paper  js  limited  to  a  consideration  of  the  organized 
efforts,  now  presented  in  the  larger  cities  of  this  country,  for  the  tempo- 
rary employment  of  men  and  women  out  of  work,  where  such  employ- 
ment is  at  once  relief  and  labor  test. 

The  sketch  necessarily  omits  consideration  of  the  individual  work 
which  is  being  done  daily  by  the  visitors  of  the  charity  organization 
societies  and  by  others  in  finding  employment  for  the  poor  in  their  care, 
although  every  such  offer  of  work  is  a  labor  test  in  the  mind  of  any 
observant  helper.  The  field  must  be  further  narrowed  by  omitting  con- 
sideration of  the  various  institutions  for  special  classes  which  give  em- 
ployment to  their  inmates  by  various  industries,  because  these  homes 
are  not  open  to  the  poor  at  large.  Nor  can  employment  at  sewing,  as 
afforded  by  many  churches  and  by  some  societies  in  our  large  cities,  be 
considered  as  other  than  thinly  disguised  relief  with  little  or  none  of 
the  labor  test  idea  in  it. 

The  organized  undertakings  which  remain  within  the  province  of  this 
paper,  seek  (i)  to  provide  immediate  relief  by  employment  for  those 
able  and  willing  to  work,  and  (2)  to  prevent  those  who  are  able  to 
work,  but  unwilling,  from  securing  a  livelihood  by  misrepresentations  and 
beggary.  In  addition  to  these  objects,  many  aim  (3)  to  train  those 
who  lack  work  through  incompetency  into  a  fair  ability  to  support  them- 
selves. 

The  provision  of  labor  tests  to  relieve  the  country  of  able-bodied 
vagrants  engaged  the  attention  of  our  English  ancestors  three  centuries 
ago,  when  the  Elizabethan  statute  provided  that  every  parish  "  should 
raise  by  a  parochial  tax.  a  convenient  stock  of  flax,  hemp,  wool,  thread, 
iron  and  other  ware  or  stuff  to  set  the  poor  to  work."  It  is  not  a  mat- 
ter of  record,  I  believe,  that  any  parish  performed  the  duty  thus  laid 
upon  it,  but  the  spirit  of  the  statute  that  such  of  the  poor  as  could  work, 
must  work,  brought  forth  in  time  the  English  work-house  system. 


88  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

I  have  not  searched  to  find  the  earliest  application  of  the  work  test 
in  this  country;  paupers  were  sometimes  let  out  by  the  towns  for  service 
in  early  colonial  days  and  in  the  annual  election  sermon  before  the 
legislature  of  Connecticut,  in  1774,  the  preacher  called  the  attention 
of  the  law-makers  to  ''the  multiplying  of  vagrant  beggars  and  idle  per- 
sons, well  able  to  support  themselves  and  to  benefit  the  public,  if  put  to 
labor,  which  it  appears  they  have  no  disposition  for,  if  they  can  find  a 
support  without  it,"  and  inquired  "might  not  the  civil  fathers  act  to 
good  purpose  by  ordering  such  vagrants  to  be  taken  up  and  put  to  service 
for  their  maintenance." 

Passing  immediately  to  the  situation  of  to-day  in  this  country,  we 
find  that  consideration  is  being  given  everywhere  in  our  larger  cities, 
to  the  provision  of  temporary  employment  as  relief,  education  and 
labor  test  combined.  These  schemes  ordinarily  take  the  form  of  wood- 
yards  for  men  and  of  laundries  for  women;  variations  in  the  kind  of 
employment  offered  for  women  are  more  common  than  in  that  given 
to  men,  and  the  work  afforded  women  generally  has  the  nature  of  a 
training-school,  an  advantage  which  the  wood-yard  for  men  does  not 
possess. 

I  give  herewith  a  summary  of  the  methods  in  use  in  the  various  cities 
of  the  United  States  which  seem  to  me  to  fall  within  the  limits  of  this 
paper.  The  cities  are  arranged  in  the  order  of  population  by  the 
census  of  1890.  Those  that  do  not  appear  in  the  list  have  either 
reported  that  no  form  of  temporary  employment  exists  or  have  failed 
to  respond  at  all.  The  inquiry  has  been  addressed  in  each  instance  to 
the  secretary  of  the  charity  organization  society  of  the  place  and  but 
few  have  failed  to  respond.  To  some  of  the  secretaries  I  am  under 
special  obligations. 

New  York. 

The  Charity  Organization  Society  maintains  a  wood-yard,  at  which 
3,959  days'  work  was  given  during  the  last  year  reported.  This  labor 
utilized  521  cords  of  wood.  The  wood-yard  pays  its  expenses  and  a 
little  more.  Additional  lots  have  been  secured  by  the  society,  on 
which  they  propose  to  erect  a  building  to  accommodate  200  men  on 
the  lines  of  the  Wayfarers'  Lodge  in  Boston. 

The  state  authorities  some  years  since  authorized  the  establishm.ent 
of  a  municipal  lodging  house;  but  the  city  authorities  have  opposed  its 
erection. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  89 

The -Charity  Organization  Society  also  maintains  a  laundry  "fully 
equipped  and  competent  to  do  first  class  work;  Its  object  to  teach 
women^ll  kinds  of  laundry  work." 

New^york  city  possesses,  on  Blackwell's  Island,  the  only  work- 
house in  the  state  under  the  care  of  public  officials.  I  mention  it  here 
briefly,  although  outside  of  the  scheme  of  the  paper,  because  of  its 
value  as  an  index  to  the  size  of  the  work  which  needs  doing.  From 
the  report  of  the  superintendent  for  the  year  1890,  the  last  printed,  the 
following  extracts  are  made:  "There  has  been  a  steady  falling  off  in 
the  census,  being  in  1890  a  decrease  of  23  per  cent,  from  1887,  16 
percent,  from  1888  and  it  per  cent,  from  1889."  The  commitments 
during  1890  aggregated  22,340,  of  which  12,844  were  men  and 
9,496  women.  These  commitments,  however,  represented  only  about 
5,000  different  men  and  about  1,500  different  women,  the  men  being 
committed  not  quite  three  times  each  in  the  average,  and  the  women 
more  than  six  times  each.  During  the  months  from  June  to  Novem- 
ber inclusive  the  commitments  are  about  one-third  less  than  during 
the  other  half  of  the  year.  The  men  employed  are  as  laborers,  firemen, 
bakers,  stone-breakers,  etc.,  and  the  women  at  washing,  ironing  and 
scrubbing,  but  the  work  required  does  not  suffice  to  deter  applications  for 
recommitment.  The  herding  together  of  so  many  vagrants,  &c.,  seems 
very  objectionable. 

Chicago. 

The  Chicago  Relief  and  Aid  Society  maintains  a  wood-yard  "to 
help  able-bodied  men  through  employment  and  to  furnish  a  labor  test. 
This  is  done  by  giving  to  any  man  who  applies  for  it  a  meal  or  lodging 
after  he  has  earned  it  by  honest  work,  sawing  wood.  In  exceptional 
cases,  men  with  families  are  given,  work  for  cash."  During  1892, 
work  was  given  to  1,011  different  men,  who  sawed  and  split  wood  to  a 
value  of  $12,317,  as  appears  from  the  sales  reported. 

There  is  also  in  Chicago,  a  laundry  in  connection  with  the  "Home 
for  Self-Supporting  Women,"  where  an  average  of  18  persons  a  day 
find  employment,  a  large  part  of  whom  have  become  proficient  enough 
to  take  ])ermanent  positions  in  families. 

Philadelphia. 
The    Philadelphia    Society    for  Organizing    Charity,    maintains    two 
wood-yards  in  connection   with  wayfarers'  lodges  which   "as  a  labor 
test  have  ]jroved  invaluable,  and   in  which  the  inmates  earn  from   two- 


90  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

thirds  to  three-fourths  of  the  cost  of  their  maintenance,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  among  their  population  are  many  disabled  men  and  many  women 
and  children."  During  the  15  months  covered  by  the  last  report,  865 
cords  of  wood  were  sawed  and  split,  realizing  when  sold  $9,984. 
The  Pennsylvania  state  treasury  makes  an  annual  appropriation  to  the 
Society  to  assist  in  maintaining  the  lodges.  14,336  men,  924  women 
and  216  children  received  in  the  lodges  60,062  meals  and  31-956  lodg- 
ings, an  average  to  each  inmate  of  two  lodgings  and  four  meals. 
"Truly  they  are  wayfarers." 

Brooklyn. 

The  Brooklyn  Bureau  of  Charities  maintains  two  wood-yards,  two 
laundries  and  training-schools,  and  two  work-rooms  for  unskilled 
women  without  recommendations,  a  more  extensive  equipment  than 
appears  to  be  furnished  anywhere  else.  The  two  wood-yards  pay  their 
labor  in  cash,  instead  of  in  tickets  for  meals  or  lodgings,  and  their  doors 
are  open  to  any  man  whether  coming  through  the  Society  or  applying 
on  his  own  impulse.  In  the  two  yards  827  different  men  were  employed 
in  the  last  year  reported,  to  whom  11,265  days'  work  was  furnished. 
For  the  weaker  men  the  superintendents  endeavor  to  provide  lighter 
work,  such  as  splitting  and  bundling  in  place  of  sawing.  One  of  the 
yards  is  kept  open  until  ten  o'clock  at  night,  so  that  men  applying  any- 
where in  the  city  for  alms  for  a  night's  lodging,  may  be  sent  there  to  earn 
the  cost.  The  aggregate  sales  were  $12,920,  of  which  just  one-third  was 
paid  in  wages  to  the  men,  and  the  balance  for  the  material,  rent,  super- 
intendence and  delivery.  Although  the  average  pay  earned  by  the 
men,  does  not  quite  reach  forty  cents,  which  is  earned  usually  in  five 
hours,  some  earn  much  more.  At  this  rate  of  pay  the  yard  regulates 
itself  automatically.  It  will  happen  for  a  few  weeks  every  year,  per- 
haps, that  the  men  who  apply  can  be  given  work  only  every  second  day; 
but  a  newcomer  always  has  a  place  made  for  him.  It  will  also  happen 
a  few  weeks  in  every  year  that  the  sales  exceed  to  a  considerable  extent 
the  amount  which  men  can  be  found  ready  to  saw  and  split,  and  this 
has  to  be  covered  by  carrying  some  stock  of  prepared  wood.  Both 
wood-yards  are  self-sustaining. 

The  same  society  manages  two  laundry  training-schools,  with  an 
excellent  equipment  of  porcelain  tubs,  etc.  One  of  these  has  been  run- 
ning since  1885,  the  other  is  comparatively  new.  In  the  older  laundry, 
8,266  days'  work  of  nine  hours  each    was  performed  by  191  different 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  9 1 

women,  an  average  of  43  days  to  each.  The  number  of  women 
given  work,  varied  from  five  up  to  forty-three  daily.  The  cash  received 
for  ladTidry  work  was  $8,152,  of  which  $5,452  was  paid  to  the  women, 
and..^ttt'e  balance  for  superintendence,  materials,  expenses  of  delivery, 
etc.  This  laundry  is  now  nearly  self-sustaining,  and  would  be  entirely 
so  were  it  not  also  a  training-school.  The  newer  laundry  accomplished 
about  one-half  the  work  of  the  older  laundry  in  the  year  last  reported. 

The  first  work-room  '<for  unskilled  women  without  recommendations" 
was  opened  in  Brooklyn  in  1886,  and  a  second  one  a  few  years  later. 
These  experiments  when  initiated  were  unique,  and  merit  the  comment 
of  observers  that  "The  essentials  of  Mr.  Booth's  plan  were  already  in 
successful  operation  in  Brooklyn  before  they  were  announced  in  London." 
(Report  of  Overseer  of  the  Poor — Providence,  R.  I.,  1892.)  The 
women  who  come  into  these  rooms  are  below  the  grade  of  those  that 
can  be  taught  to  sew  or  to  do  laundry  work;  to  be  sent  from  the  work- 
room to  the  laundry  is  in  nature  of  a  promotion.  680  different  women 
were  given  4,429  days'  work,  an  average  to  each  of  seven  days'  work. 
The  women  are  mostly  employed  in  making  rag  carpets  and  rugs.  The 
more  helpless  ones  are  given  the  task  of  cutting  and  tearing  the  rags  to 
pieces  or  assorting  them  by  colors.  These  women  are  paid  exclusively 
in  meals  and  lodgings,  while  those  who  work  in  the  laundry  are  paid 
in  cash.  A  lodging  house  for  women  is  owned  and  managed  by  the 
society  in  connection  with  the  work  rooms  and  laundry,  where  4,300 
lodgings  were  furnished  to  women  and  children. 

The  City  Mission  and  Tract  Society  maintains  a  "Home  of  Indus » 
try,"  at  which  6,656  lodgings  were  earned  last  year  in  manufacturing 
brooms.  Those  employed  are  mostly  ex-convicts ;  but  others  are 
admitted. 

Boston. 

The  Overseers  of  the  Poor  maintain  a  wayfarers'  lodge  and  wood- 
yard,  which  were  established  together  in  1879.  This  lodge  receives 
all  the  men  who  formerly  went  to  station  houses  for  nights'  lodgings. 
Before  the  lodge  was  established,  the  -station  houses  averaged  60,000 
lodgers  annually,  reaching  sometimes  600  i)er  night.  The  annual 
number  is  now  about  37,000,  and  the  largest  number  recorded  in  any 
one  night  by  last  report  200.  91,329  meals  were  furnished,  also  earned 
by  work  in  the  wood-yard.  Of  the  lodgers  not  quite  one-half  were 
Americans,  about  one-third  were  Irish  and  one-sixth  of  other  countries, 


92  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

mostly  of  British  origin.  The  ordinary  stint  required  of  lodgers  is  to 
saw  and  split  two  feet  of  wood.  Each  man  is  obliged  to  take  a  bath  ;  his 
clothes  are  taken  care  of,  are  cleaned,  if  necessary,  and  a  clean  night- 
gown is  given  him.  "It  rarely  takes  more  than  two  hours  for  him  to 
perform  the  task  which  secures  the  lodging  and  breakfast.  It  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at  that  the  same  men  apply  again  and  again."  Lodge 
and  wood-yard  together  are  nearly,  but  not  quite  self-supporting. 
(References  :  Reports  of  the  Overseers,  and  papers  at  Conference  of 
Charities,  1885.) 

The  Overseers  of  the  Poor  also  maintain  a  temporary  home  for  women 
and  children,  to  which  any  such  in  need  of  shelter  have  free  admission 
on  application  and  in  which  the  cost  of  their  care  is  largely  repaid  by 
the  work  which  they  do.     Only  one-fourth  of  the  women  are  Americans. 

The  Roxbury  Charitable  Society  maintains  a  wood-yard,  and  gave 
work  in  its  last  reported  year  to  179  men,  more  than  one-half  of  whom 
applied  in  February.      Sales  of  wood  $5,928. 

The  Temporary  Home  for  working  women  maintains  a  laundry  and 
sewing  room,  and  during  1892  admitted  281  women,  furnishing  7,368 
lodgings  and  23,661  meals,  almost  the  whole  of  which  was  paid  for  in 
work. 

The  Boston  Industrial  and  Appleton  Temporary  Homes,  maintains 
a  wood-yard  for  able-bodied  men  out  of  work. 

The  Co-operative  Society  of  Visitors  among  the  Poor,  which  now  forms 
a  part  of  the  Associated  Charities  work,  published  in  1890  a  tract  on 
employment  for  poor  women  in  which  the  matter  of  "charity  sewing" 
is  treated  with  unusual  discrimination. 

Baltimore. 
The  Charity  Organization  Society  established  in  May,  189 1,  an 
electric  sewing  machine  room,  concerning  which  the  manager  reports 
"The  experiment  has  worked  itself  into  an  entirely  different  channel 
from  the  original  plan,  which  was  that  the  rooms  were  to  be  established 
for  very  delicate  women,  who  were  unable  to  use  the  foot-power  machine. 
In  most  cases  these  women  were  fit  only  for  hospitals;  but  in  their  stead 
came  women  who  had  no  money,  no  friends,  no  work  and  often  no 
machines.  There  have  been  only  two  women  here  with  work  of  their 
own;  we  have  had  to  furnish  it  for  all  the  rest  and  teach  them  how  to 
do  it.  As  the  greater  part  are  no  longer  young,  it  takes  several  months 
before  they  can  be  made  self-supporting.     The  younger  women  can  find 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  93 

workjri  factories.  Few  lazy  women  come."  The  report  further  states 
that  "the  factories  send  the  rooms  as  much  work  as  can  be  handled" 
and  iimt  in  six  weeks  women  capable  of  learning  to  sew  can  learn  to 
run  ajflachine  and  make  $4  to  ^5  a  week. 

There  is  a  Friendly  Inn,  with  a  wood-yard  in  connection,  with  a 
capacity  of  125  beds,  under  independent  management.  The  average 
nurpber  of  lodgers  annually  for  eight  years  has  been  15,000,  of  whom 
nine-tenths  pay  for  their  lodgings  and  meals  by  sawing  and  splitting 
wood.  Lunch  is  paid  for  by  sawing  and  splitting  four  sticks,  and  a 
lodging  by  ten  sticks. 

Cincinnati. 

A  labor-yard  for  men  has  been  recently  established  by  the  Associated 
Charities  and,  in  connection  therewith,  lodgings,  baths,  dining  room, 
etc.  It  is  not  yet  self-supporting,  but  has  come  near  it.  There  is  also 
a  work  room  for  unskilled  women  on  the  Brooklyn  plan. 

Buffalo. 

The  Charity  Organization  Society  maintains  a  provident  wood-yard, 
open  during  the  winter  months.  In  January,  February  and  March, 
1891,  70  men  applied  for  work,  of  whom  44  came  once  only.  Annual 
business  about  $2,000. 

Washington. 

A  municipal  lodging  house  and  wood-yard  has  been  recently  estab- 
lished, which  is  to  be  supported  by  appropriations  of  Congress.  Some 
account  of  it  was  given  by  Amos  G.  Warner  in  a  recent  number  of  the 
"Charities  Review." 

The  Associated  Charities  maintains  a  small  wood-yard. 

Newark. 
The  Female  Charity  Society  has  a  laundry  and  training-school. 

Louisville. 
The  Charity  Organization  Society  maintains  a  wayfarers'  lodge  and 
wood-yard  in  connection.  It  takes  one  and  one-half  hours'  labor  at 
sawing  and  splitting  wood  to  earn  a  meal  or  lodging.  8,981  lodgings 
and  25,237  meals  were  furnished  to  1,234  inmates  last  year.  The 
experiment  seems  to  be  self-sustaining. 

Omaha. 
The  Associated   Charities  established  a  wood-yard  last  August  and 
report  that  large  numbers  of  men  decline  to  work  when  the  opportunity 


94  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

is  offered.  The  county  commissioners  here  send  able-bodied  applicants 
for  relief  to  the  yard,  where  their  time  is  reckoned  at  15  cents  an  hour, 
to  be  paid  by  the  county  in  groceries  and  coal. 

Kansas  City. 
The  Provident  Association  maintains  a  wood -yard,  in  which  during 
the  last  year  553  men  were  employed  for  6,240  hours  and  earned  $6;^^. 

Providence. 

This  city  has  maintained  a  municipal  wood -yard  for  over  fifteen  years, 
thus  antedating  all  others  now  existent,  I  believe.  Its  expenditures 
last  year  were  $10,500,  and  receipts  $8,384.  There  is  no  lodging 
house  in  connection  with  this  municipal  experiment  and  the  men  are 
paid  in  cash  or  in  meals.  It  is  recorded  that  65  men  applied  30  times 
each,  which  constituted  about  one-half  the  total  employment  given. 

Indianapolis. 
Has  a  friendly  inn  and  a  wood-yard  near  by  in  the  care  of  the  Indi- 
anapolis Benevolent  Society. 

Denver. 
The    Charity  Organization  Society  assists  in  maintaining  a  sewing 
room  and  laundry  for  the  temporary  employment  of  women,  who  are 
paid  at  12)4  cents  per  hour  in  orders  on  the  grocer. 

The  above  enumeration  includes  all  cities  which  had  over  100,000 
population  according  to  the  census  of  1890,  and  in  which  employment 
as  a  labor  test  is  furnished,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  being 
sixteen  out  of  twenty-eight. 

Of  the  smaller  cities,  the  following  have  come  to  my  notice;  but 
doubtless  some  others  have  escaped  my  observation  and  inquiry.  As  a 
rule  less  attention  is  given  to  such  agencies  in  the  smaller  cities  than  in 
larger  ones. 

New  Haven. 

Here  employment  as  relief  and  test  had  early  and  broad  develop- 
ment. The  Organized  Charities  Association  maintains  a  wood-yard 
for  all  who  are  ready  to  work  for  meals  and  lodgings,  limiting  employ- 
ment to  three  days.  They  require  one-twentieth  of  a  cord  of  wood  cut 
for  each  meal  or  lodging  furnished.  The  yard  also  furnishes  to  recog- 
nized residents  of  the  city  employment  for  cash.  The  same  society 
runs  a  laundry  with  an  average  of  65  weekly  customers.  The  women 
do  not  stay  long  as  the  association   places  the  competent  ones  outside. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  95 

Thetown  furnishes  employment  on  the  roads  and  farm  to  able-bodied 
laborers  who  ask  aid,  and  who  are  able  to  work  for  three  days  in  every 
three,weeks.  Many  men  are  said  to  wait  their  turn  for  this  work,  rather 
thaii^^^xept  regular  employment  elsewhere,  as  the  town  pays  $1.50  per 
day.  It  would  probably  be  better  for  the  men  if  the  town  gave  up  this 
method  and  left  these  applicants  to  deal  with  the  Organized  Charities 
Association. 

Pawtucket,  R.  I. 
The  Overseer  of  the  Poor  maintains  a  wood-yard  at  the  city  farm,  in 
which  also  inmates  of  the  asylum  who  are  able  to  work  are  required  to 
do  something.  To  outsiders  the  overseer  gives  permits  to  work  in  the 
wood-yard.  These  people  receive  50  cents  per  day  and  dinner,  or  75 
cents  and  bring  their  dinner.  They  are  paid  in  orders  on  some  grocer. 
No  single  men  or  tramps  are  employed,  and  the  same  person  is  rarely 
employed  for  more  than  two  weeks.  The  yard  is  self-sustaining,  though 
its  business  is  small. 

Cambridge,  Mass. 
The  Overseer  of  the   Poor  has  a  stone   ledge  in  connection  with  the 
almshouse,  where  the  able-bodied  poor,  whether   inmates  of  the  alms- 
house or  not,  are  employed.     They  are  little   troubled   by  tramps  at 
present  and  have  given  up  some  wood-yards  which  they  formerly  had. 

Wilmington,  Delaware. 
The  Associated  Charities  co-operate  with  a  private  wood-yard,  instead 
of  running  one  themselves.     They  find  men  less  willing  than  women  to 
take  work  when  it  is  offered. 

Terre  Haute,  Indiana. 

The  Society  for  Organizing  Charity  is  about  to  open  a  wood-yard  for 
men  and  a  laundry  for  women. 

Hartford. 
The  Open  Hearth  Society  maintains  a  wood-yard  in  connection  with 
its  lodging  house,  in  which  men  are  given  employment  but  not  for  more 
than  five  days. 

Newburgh. 
In  1 89 1,  the  Associated   Charities  succeeded  in  bringing  together  the 
Overseers  of  the  Poor  and  the  Street  Commissioners  in  such  a  way  that 
able-bodied   applicants   for   assistance  were   set  to  work  on  the  roads. 


96  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

86  days  of  work  were  accomplished  under  direction  of  the  street  super- 
intendent, for  which  the  ahnshouse  commissioners  paid  in  relief  tickets 
at  the  rate  of  one  dollar  per  day.  Then  unfortunately  the  difference 
between  the  two  boards  caused  the  abandonment  of  this  interesting  and 
seemingly  successful  experiment. 

Portland,  Oregon. 
The  City  Board  of  Charities  reports:  "We  have  no  surplus  of 
women  and  find  no  difficulty  in  placing  all  who  will  do  house-work. 
We  have  a  considerable  transient  element  of  men,  who  drift  along  the 
coast  from  British  Columbia  to  Southern  California.  Many  of  these 
are  of  a  low  order  and  never  do  voluntary  work.  At  the  time  of  our 
organization  the  city  was  overrun  '  with  the  latter  class,  as  well  as  by 
cripples,  blind  beggars,  &:c.  Now  we  have  none  at  all  of  the  profes- 
sionals. I  have  never  found  one  who  had  not  sufficient  means  to  travel, 
when  it  was  found  that  the  law  against  beggary  was  enforced.  The 
tramps  who  apply  for  aid  are  offered  an  hour's  work  for  a  meal  or  lodg- 
ing, with  the  alternative  of  arrest  and  compulsory  labor  at  the  city 
park  or  wood  pile.  Any  deserving  man  is  given  work  at  a  wood-yard 
until  permanent  work  cscn  be  secured.  We  have  secured  very  full  co- 
operation on  the  part  of  our  people  in  this  matter.  We  furnished  work 
in  1889  to  258  persons,  in  1890  to  396,  in  1891  to  713,  and  in  1892 
to  418." 

As  a  work  test  for  men,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  wood-yard  is  in  almost 
universal  use;  but  this  enterprise  is  managed  quite  differently  in  differ- 
ent cities.  In  its  simplest  form,  the  labor  test  is  furnished  by  an 
arrangement  made  by  the  charity  organization  society  of  the  place 
with  the  proprietor  of  any  private  wood-yard  which  handles  kindling 
wood,  so  that  employment  may  be  given  to  any  man  sent  with  a  card 
by  the  society. 

In  the  larger  cities,  the  society  has  its  own  wood-yard,  either  without 
a  lodging  house,  as  in  Chicago,  Brooklyn,  etc.;  or  in  connection  with 
a  wayfarers'  lodge,  as  in  Philadelphia,  etc.,  and  as  is  proposed  for 
New  York.  In  a  few  cases,  the  lodge  and  wood-yard  may  be  found  in 
the  hands  of  others  than  the  charity  organization  societies. 

In  Boston  and  Providence,  the  wood-yards  are  managed  by  the 
Overseers  of  the  Poor,  in  the  former  city  in  connection  with  the  way- 
farers' lodge  and  in  the  latter  without  such  connection. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  97 

Payment  for  the  work  done  may  be  made  to  the  men  in  meals  and 
lodgings,  or  in  tickets  entitling  the  holder  to  such  accommodation  else- 
where,^r  in  cash. 

Muhjcipal  control  of  the  lodge  and  wood-yard  compels  compliance 
with  regulations  which  a  private  society  finds  it  more  difficult  to  enforce, 
as  the  city  authorities  can  commit  as  a  vagrant  any  refractory  man. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  manifest  advantage  in  having  the  control 
of  fhe  wood-yard  in  the  hands  of  a  charity  organization  society,  which 
will  seek  to  promote  the  men  from  the  wood-yard  to  some  more  useful 
and  permanent  employment. 

Among  the  provisions  for  temporary  employment  with  labor  test  suit- 
able for  women,  the  laundry  holds  the  first  place.  The  rooms  for  un- 
skilled and  unrecommended  women  in  Brooklyn,  and  the  electric  sew- 
ing machine  rooms  in  Baltimore,  open  up  interesting  fields  not  pre- 
viously explored. 

The  amount  of  work  which  is  being  done  in  any  of  these  cities  by 
these  agencies  for  temporary  employment  is  so  small  that  even  were  it 
multiplied  many  times,  it  would  scarcely  affect  the  work  people  regu- 
larly employed  in  the  same  industry.  This  is  because  the  manufacture 
-of  kindling  wood  is  mostly  conducted  in  factories  with  steam  power, 
where  a  single  machine  will  do  more  work  than  an  average  hand  labor 
wood-yard,  and  the  same  is  true,  though  to  a  less  extent,  of  laundry 
work.  As  economic  experiments,  however,  none  of  these  agents  could 
be  justified,  but  as  furnishing  a  labor  test  with  the  temporary  employ- 
ment, they  would  be  desirable  even  at  serious  cost  in  other  directions. 
The  rate  of  pay  must  necessarily  be  less  than  is  to  be  had  in  other 
employment,  or  it  could  not  be  offered  freely  to  all  who  may  apply. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  number  of  people  in  any  large  city  who  are 
willing  to  work  for  just  enough  to  earn  meals  and  lodgings  is  very 
large,  and  if  these  should  be  steadily  employed,  any  temporary  employ- 
ment agency  might  become  clogged.  It  is  not  the  business  of  a 
charity  organization  society  to  make  people  satisfied  with  this  low  order 
of  living,  but  rather  to  stimulate  them  to  self-support  in  home  life. 
For  this  reason  these  employment  agencies  of  whatever  nature  are 
most  appropriately  managed  by,  or  in  close  co-operation  with,  the 
charity  organization  societies,  which  can  and  should  do  something  more 
than  use  them  to  furnish  employment  or  to  expose  frauds. 

Except  as  their  opportunities  for  employment  afford  the  chance  for 
further  advance,  the  value  of  the  employment  ofi'ered  is  at  best  con- 
7 


98  INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

fined  to  the  money  earned  by  the  laborer,  while  it  may  be  truthfully 
said  that  the  offer  of  work  at  the  moment  when  the  applicant  most 
sorely  needs  it  may  make  a  dollar  worth  more  to  the  earner  than  $10. 
would  be  at  some  other  time.  The  value  of  these  undertakings  in 
exposing  those  who  are  able  to  work  but  unwilling,  is  perhaps  even 
greater  than  their  value  in  affording  relief  to  those  who  are  willing  to 
work.  Yet  this  still  misses  the  appreciation  of  the  greatest  value  of 
all  in  these  temporary  employment  agencies,  and  that  is  the  oppor- 
tunity for  any  individual,  who  is  willing  to  help  another,  to  reach  some 
one  who  needs  a  friend  at  a  critical  moment  when  the  service  will  be 
most  appreciated. 

A  vast  amount  of  time  is  wasted  in  life  in  finding  the  right  place  and 
the  right  time  in  which  to  grasp  the  man  or  woman  who  needs  a  help- 
ing hand.  Both  the  time  and  the  place  are  afforded  to  the  visitors  of 
the  charity  organization  societies  by  these  industrial  undertakings.  It 
is  often  a  crisis  in  the  life  of  the  man  or  woman  when  the  work  place 
is  entered  for  the  first  time,  and  the  friend  who  stands  by  and  watches 
at  such  a  moment  may  control  the  future  of  the  individual  to  an  extent 
not  easily  attainable  at  any  other  time  or  place.  Thus  these  wood- 
yards,  laundries,  work-rooms,  etc.,  with  the  friendly  visitor's  assistance, 
become  the  open  doors  to  new  lives  of  self-respect  and  self-support. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  '  99 


^ 


^'    REGISTRATION    OF    CHARITABLE    RELIEF. 

BY    MISS    FRANCES    R.     MORSE    OF    BOSTON. 

Iti  speaking  of  registration  I  shall  use  the  word  in  the  somewhat 
arbitrary  meaning  which  has  become  familiar  to  charity  organization 
workers,  as  implying  not  only  the  recording  of  information  on  charita- 
ble matters,  but  also  the  constant  exchange  of  such  information  between 
societies  and  individuals  engaged  in  charitable  work  through  a  central 
office. 

In  examining  the  short  history  of  registration  of  charitable  relief  in 
this  country  we  wish  to  learn : 

ist.   What  conditions  led  to  a  demand  for  it? 

2ndly.   With  the  expectation  of  what  good  results  it  was  established? 

3rdly.   What  objections  have  been  urged  against  it? 

4thly.   What  are  the  present  methods  of  registration? 

5thly.   Whether  the  expectations  of  its  projectors  have  been  realized? 

To  determine  the  first  two  points  let  us  turn  back  to  the  registration 
of  relief  by  committees  independent  of  any  one  charitable  society, 
begun  in  New  York  in  1873  and  in  Boston  in  1876,  and  in  New  York 
suspended  for  years,  in  Boston  for  months,  until  the  Charity  Organiza- 
tion Society  in  the  one  case,  and  the  Associated  Charities  in  the  other, 
came  into  existence  and  made  registration  a  part  of  their  regular  work. 

I.      Conditions  precedent  to  registration. 
In  New  York  the  conditions  which  called   for  registration  are  thus 
described  : 

"The  wish  of  the  i)ublic  has  been  clearly  expressed  that  adequate 
means  of  relief  should  be  furnished  in  every  worthy  case  of  distress, 
it  being  understood  that  the  law  provided  for  the  unworthy  and  crimi- 
nal classes.  It  is  evident  that  with  the  present  want  of  system  great 
individual  suffering  can  exist:  in  fact,  a  family  might  starve  before 
it  could  be  relieved  ;  and  this  arises  from  no  want  of  public  money  or 
sympathy,  but  from  want  of  information,  from  rtiisdirected  and  ill- 
managed  agencies  of  relief,  or  from  the  insufficiency  of  aid.  It  is 
evident  that  co-operation  and  organized  division  of  labor  among  the 
societies  would  effect  a  great  improvement  in  this  respect." 

"  Want  of  system  "  and  "  want  of  information,"  therefore,  are  the 
conditions  which  in  New  York  led  to  registration. 


lOO        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

This  Statement  is  quoted  from  the  vakiable  Report  of  the  Bureau  of 
Charities  of  New  York  (1874),  and  the  objects  proposed  in  the  report 
are  so  closely  connected  with  the  subject  of  registration  that  I  quote 
them  here. 

'^  Objects:' 

"I.  To  obtain  authoritative  information  regarding  the  objects  and 
resources  of  the  various  benevolent  societies  of  the  city. 

"II.  To  secure  a  system  of  registration  of  the  persons  receiving  aid 
from  the  societies,  and  to  arrange  for  such  inter-communication  of  the 
officers  as  will  prevent  imposition. 

"III.  To  ascertain  whether  existing  organizations  are  adequate  to 
meet  existing  wants,  and  whether  special  and  extraordinary  provision 
is  required  during  the  winter,  and  to  report  the  same  to  the  public. 

"  IV.  To  ascertain  and  report  to  the  public  the  most  simple  methods 
of  testing  and  verifying  applications  for  aid,  and  of  directing  deserv- 
ing claimants  to  the  agency  adapted  to  their  respective  cases. 

"V.  To  ascertain  and  report  to  the  public  the  state  of  the  law 
regarding  charitable  societies,  and  also  regarding  street-begging  and 
other  forms  of  pauperism." 

The  experiment  of  registration  in  New  York  was  given  up  after  a 
year's  trial  because  the  co-operation  of  the  largest  relief-giving  associ- 
ation in  the  city  could  not  be  secured;  but  Mr.  H.  E.  Pellew,  secretary 
of  the  committee  which  had  organized  the  plan,  says  in  his  report, 
(October,    1874): 

"  Notwithstanding  obstacles  which  have  seriously  impeded  the  efforts 
of  the  Bureau,  a  real  and  valuable  field  of  work  has  been  devloped. 
Important  information  has  been  obtained,  many  statistics  tabulated, 
and  others  partly  prepared,  and  a  comprehensive  and  suggestive  system 
introduced  for  recording  and  comparing  the  incidence  of  pauperism 
and  of  relief. 

"After  the  successful  trial  which  has  now  been  made,  it  is  impossible 
to  doubt  that  some  similar  organization  for  the  regulation  of  charity 
will  be  permanently  established  in  the  city." 

Mr.  Pellew' 5  predictions  were  verified  in  1882,  when  the  Charity 
Organization  Society  was  created,  and  made  registration  a  part  of  its 
work  from  the  outset. 

The  experiment  abandoned  in  New  York  in  1874  was  taken  up  in 
Boston  in  1876  and  successfully  worked  till  1878,  when  it  was  suspended 
for  nine  months  until  the  Provisional  Committee,  subsequently  the  first 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Associated  Charities  made  it  an  integral 
part  of  their  work. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  lOI 

The  conditions  of  Boston  were  somewhat  different  from  those  of  New 
York  ;  with  a  smaller  population,  and  fewer  nationalities  to  deal  with, 
it  waf  rather  that  some  over-lapping  of  relief  was  seen,  and  a  great 
deaJr^^^ore  foreseen,  than  that  the  condition  at  the  time  was  one  of  dis- 
astrous and  disabling  confusion. 

A  circular  issued  in  1876  says:  "  When  we  consider  that  at  least 
twenty-five  charitable  societies,  as  well  as  numerous  church  benevolent 
societies,  are  now  engaged  in  this  city  in  distributing  money  and  aid  of 
various  kinds,  but  that  many  of  them  are  without  exact  knowledge  of 
the  specific  objects,  or  the  actual  work  of  the  rest,  no  further  proof  is 
needed  to  show  that  the  very  relief  they  aim  to  afford  cannot  be  satis- 
factorily given,  for  they  must  more  or  less  overlap  one  another,  and 
waste  of  time,  strength  and  money  be  the  necessary  result." 

Thus,  want  of  system  and  want  of  inter-communication  between 
public  and  private  agencies  and  individuals  engaged  in  charitable  work 
in  the  same  field,  were  the  conditions  precedent  to  the  establishment  of 
registration  in  Boston  as  well  as  in  New  York. 

Both  cities  gave  public  outdoor  relief. 

II.      What  good  results  7uere  expected  to  folloiv  registration. 

We  find  that  the  New  York  committee  say  that  it  would  be  easy  to 
make  the  office  of  the  Bureau  "the  clearing-house  of  charities  in  New 
York." 

More  specifically,  they  believed  that  registration  would  afford  posi- 
tive information,  would  prevent  the  overlapping  of  relief,  would  detect 
imposture,  would  lead  to  improvement  in  methods  of  relief  by  showing 
where  present  methods  failed  of  their  ends,  and  through  the  street- 
directory  would  soon  show,  almost  as  on  a  map,  the  incidence  of  desti- 
tution and  of  relief. 

In  Boston  the  first  published  circular  says  :  "This  system  of  regis- 
tration is  in  no  way  to  supplant  any  existing  society,  nor  to  criticize 
its  action  ;  it  is  only  to  increase  the  power  of  each  by  adding  to  its 
means  of  information,  and  securing  more  unity  of  action." 

A  later  circular  says:  "We  believe  that  greater  familiarity  with 
each  other's  work  would  tend  to  diminish  imposture  and  street-begging, 
which  all  are  desirous  to  ])revent,  and  thus  greatly  benefit  the  deserving 
poor."  After  describing  the  proposed  methods  of  registration,  the 
same  circular  goes  on  to  say  : 

"It  has  been  objected  that  such  information  would  lessen  the  sense 
of  responsibility  of  each  society,  and  cut  off  assistance  from  many 
needing  it. 


I02        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

"We  urge  that  as  the  amount  of  help  given  in  each  case  will  be  stated, 
it  ought  on  the  contrary  to  lead  only  to  such  communication  between 
the  persons  interested  as  would  make  the  relief  more  intelligent  and 
efficient. 

"There  will  undoubtedly  be  persons  whose  names  it  would  be  unwise 
and  unnecessary  to  record;   we  trust  that  such  will  not  be  sent  to  us. 

"No  material  aid  will  be  given  at  this  office,  and  no  censorship 
assumed  ;  its  records  will  be  open  only  to  those  to  whom  it  will  be  of 
service  in  their  work." 

The  first  good  result  expected  from  registration,  then,  was  a  wiser, 
more  efficient,  and  helpful  administration  of  relief,  both  public  and 
private. 

The  detection  of  imposture,  important  though  that  result  might  be, 
fell  into  the  second  place,  and  is  not  even  mentioned  in  the  first  Bos- 
ton circular. 

The  third  result  counted  on  was  the  localization  of  destitution  and  of 
relief. 

III.       What  objections  have  been  urged  against  registration  ? 
The  objections  most  strongly  urged  against  registration  when   it  was 
taking  shape  in  Boston  were  three : 

That  it  was  expensive — unnecessary — unjust. 
Let  us  examine  these  objections  one  by  one. 

1.  That  it  is  expensive. 

This  is  true  in  a  sense,  as  much  clerical  work  is  necessary:  but  that 
it  is  a  wise  expenditure  has  never  been  questioned  by  the  successive 
boards  of  directors  who  have  carried  on  the  New  York  and  Boston 
societies.  On  the  contrary,  they  again  and  again,  in  their  annual 
reports,  speak  of  the  money-saving  power  of  registration,  and  money 
thus  saved  is  money  set  free  to  be  applied  to  better  advantage  than 
would  be  possible  without  its  help. 

In  the  report  for  1891  of  the  Boston  Associated  Charities  it  is  said, 
"Under  the  methods  of  co-operative  charity,  money  from  public  and 
private  sources  which,  under  the  old  methods,  would  be  worse  than 
thrown  away,  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  large  sums,  is  annually 
saved  to  the  community." 

2.  That  it  is  unnecessary. 

This  objection  is  now  seldom  made.  The  co-operating  societies  use 
registration,  more  rather  than  less,  as  time  goes  on  and  their  work 
increases.  As  it  undeniably  adds  to  the  daily  clerical  work,  it  is  clear 
that  these  societies  believe  that  in  the  end  it  is  labor-saving. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  IO3 

3.   That  it  is  unjust. 

It  has  been  said  that  it  is  unjust  to  a  family  in  misfortune  to  record 
their  history,  and  thus  make  it  public. 

This  objection  wholly  loses  force  through  the  fact  that  the  histories 
recorded  in  the  registration  office  are  never  made  public,  and  can  only 
be  seen  by  those  who  can  show  that  their  interest  is  justifiable.  But  it 
is  also  said  that  there  is  injustice  in  giving,  even  to  a  person  interested 
in  a  family,  all  the  sad  details  of  their  previous  history  ;  that  it  is 
tetter  that  these  should  be  gradually  learned  later,  rather  than  a  dis- 
couraging story  should  be  heard  beforehand.  As  well  might  we  say 
that  we  unjustly  prejudice  a  physician  if  we  give  him  the  previous  record 
of  a  patient. 

If  something  of  the  character  and  conditions  of  a  family  are  known 
beforehand,  there  is  less  chance  of  sudden  and  utter  discouragement  on 
our  part  on  learning  that  we  have  been  deceived  or  mistaken. 

We  have  brought  this  discouragement  on  ourselves,  if  we  accept 
without  verifying  it  the  statement  of  a  person  in  forlorn  circumstances, 
Avho  is  very  probably  of  weak  character  and  weak  health,  and  who  may 
t)e  under  a  strong  temptation  to  exaggerate  and  misrepresent. 

In  such  case  there  has  been  fault  on  both  sides;  there  has  been, 
perhaps,  dishonesty  on  the  one  side,  but  we  have  gone  half-way  to  meet 
it  on  the  other,  and  are  to  blame  for  our  want  of  imagination  and 
intelligence. 

Too  often,  after  such  discouragement,  we  fall  back  just  when  it  is 
most  important  to  keep  on,  leaving  the  person  whom  we  undertook  to 
help  just  so  much  the  worse  for  seeing  how  lightly  we  pick  up  and  drop 
human  interests. 

There  is  more  serious  injustice  here  than  any  that  can  be  wrought  by 
telling  to  a  person  already  interested  in  a  family  the  past  events  of  their 
life. 

IV.      Methods. 
The  following  extract  from  a  circular  of  1876  shows   the  method   of 
work  proposed  by  the  Boston  Committee;  this  was  directly  drawn  from 
that  of  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Charities  of  1873. 

"The  committee  charged  with  its  management  should  receive  from 
all  societies,  having  persons  regularly  dependent  on  their  assistance,  a 
list  of  such  regular  beneficiaries,  and  should  be  notified  of  all  changes 
made  in  this  list. 


1C4        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

"The    committee    of  management   should,   moreover,    receive    front 
societies  giving  occasional  relief  among  the  poor,  monthly  reports  of 
the  names  and  addresses  of  the  persons  helped  by  them,  and  of  the 
amount  of  relief  given  in  each  case. 

"In  return  for  this  information,  each  society  will  be  notified  when  any 
of  its  beneficiaries  are  found  to  receive  assistance,  whether  in  money, 
goods,  or  employment,  from  any  other  organization. 

"The  method  of  registration  to  be  adopted  is  like  that  of  the  card- 
catalogue  of  a  library. 

"The  name  and  address  of  each  beneficiary  are  entered  on  a  card,  with 
a  cypher  representing  the  name  of  the  relieving  society ;  on  the  same 
card  will  be  found  the  amount  of  relief  given,  and  other  statistics. 

"When  the  same  name  is  received  from  two,  or  more  societies,  an  entry 
to  that  effect  is  made  on  the  card  of  the  person  so  assisted,  and  all 
such  relieving  societies  are  notified. 

"In  this,  way  a  compact  catalogue  is  made,  which  of  course  can  be 
indefinitely  extended,  and  information  as  to  the  aid  received  by  each 
person  is  procured." 

The  only  changes  since  that  time  have  been  those  of  growth  and 
development.  More  of  the  personal  history  of  a  family  now  appears 
on  the  card,  so  that  it  becomes  quite  a  full  record  of  character  as 
well  as  of  relief  and  the  immediate  cause  of  relief;  also,  the  actual 
exchange  of  information  takes  place  with  a  rapidity  which  was  not  sup- 
posed possible  by  the  originators  of  the  plan,  the  reports  being  now 
received,  recorded,  and  sent  out  within  a  few  hours. 

Further  than  this,  there  have  been  only  changes  of  detail. 

The  method  is  still  that  of  the  card-catalogue,  the  cards  being  about 
five  by  six  inches  in  size.  A  separate  card  is  added  for  each  new  society 
or  individual  helping  a  family,  and  all  the  cards  relating  to  one  family 
(or  person,)  are  clamped  together. 

When  a  society  or  individual  is  ready  to  be  responsible  for  the  care 
of  a  family,  undertaking  to  keep  a  friendly  knowledge  of  them,  and  to 
find  relief  for  them  if  relief  be  needed,  there  is  a  record  made  that  they 
take  charge  to  visit  and  relieve,  and  ask  that  no  one  else  help  without 
consulting  them. 

With  regard  to  the  superintendence  of  registration  work.  Miss  Z.  D. 
Smith,   General  Secretary  of  the  Boston  Associated   Charities,  permits 
me  to  quote  a  passage  from  a    paper  on   registration,   written  by  her 
in  January,  1892. 

"First,  the  work  must  he  secret  and  confidential .  The  information 
must  be  entrusted  to  some  one  officer  and  the  clerks  necessary  to  accom- 
plish the  work. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  105 

^^ Secondly,  the  ivork  must  be  done  promptly.  There  must  be  enough 
helpers  to  make  sure  that,  no  matter  how  many  reports  come,  in  the 
morning,  they  will  be  recorded  and  sent  out  within  twenty-four  hours. 
'■'■Thirdly,  the  work  must  be  done  without  prejudice.  If  the  officer  in 
charge  does  not  believe  in  the  way  that  the  work  of  some  agency  is 
done,  he  must,  nevertheless,  report  its  action  without  saying  so,  exactly 
as  he  would  report  from  some  other  source. 

"While  reports  must  often  be  abridged,  it  is  important  to  avoid 
generalization,  and  to  be  careful  to  give  information  from  the  record 
and  not  the  opinion  that  the  officer  may  have  formed  from  them. 

^'■Fourthly,  the  methods  must  be  as  elastic  as  possible.  There  must  be 
order  to  ensure  promptness  and  simplicity  in  such  a  multitude  of 
details,  but  if  some  society  prefers  that  the  reports  should  be  sent  on 
stiffer  paper  than  usual  to  suit  their  methods  of  filing,  we  provide 
stiffer  paper;  if  another  wants  the  slips  cut  a  little  smaller,  to  fit 
their  record -papers,  we  have  them  cut  smaller. 

"As  to  the  way  in  which  reports  are  received,  we  take  them  in  any 
shape  in  which  we  can  get  them.  We  supply  books  or  blanks  where 
they  are  wanted,  but  we  like  best  to  borrow  the  records  of  the  societies, 
returning  them  as  promptly  as  possible." 

V.  Have  the  expectations  of  the  projectors  of  registration  been 
realized  ? 

The  permanence  of  registration  as  a  part  of  the  charity  organization 
work  of  New  York  and  Boston  in  a  measure  answers  the  question,  but  it 
may  be  answered  more  fully,  point  by  point. 

Registration  has  enabled  us  to  improve  the  character  of  charitable 
work  in  the  following  ways  : 

A.  It  puts  before  a  person  interested  in  a  family  their  previous  his- 
tory, so  far  as  it  is  known,  so  that  help  or  counsel  may  not  be  given 
merely  to  relieve  the  distress  of  the  moment,  but  may  at  least  be  framed 
with  a  view  to  preventing  the  recurrence  of  the  distress. 

B.  The  knowledge  that  two  societies  are  simultaneously  trying  to 
help  a  family  frequently  leads  to  the  withdrawal  of  one  society,  while 
the  other  pledges  itself  that  if  the  family  need  help  they  shall  receive 
it.  The  number  of  families  which  each  society  is  dealing  with  may  be 
thereby  lessened,  and  it  may  become  easier  to  make  the  personal  work 
for  each  family  thorough,  and  the  relief  adequate. 

C.  Imposture  is  swiftly  detected. 

D.  The  street-registry  makes  the  picture  of  social  conditions  clear 
before  our  eyes.  It  points  out  the  places  which  are  as  it  were,  open 
sores, — houses,  and  groups  of  houses,   where  drink  and  poor-relief  and 


106        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

improvidence  all  dwell  together, — where  the  rents  are  high  to  leave  a 
margin  for  bad  debts, — where  the  landlord  is  slow  to  make  repairs, 
and  where  the  drainage  is  bad. 

Thus  we  find  registration  justifying  the  belief  of  its  projectors  that 
it  would  afford  positive  information,  would  prevent  the  over-lapping  of 
relief,  would  save  waste  of  time  and  effort  by  enabling  societies  to 
narrow  their  field  and  thus  make  their  work  more  thorough,  would 
detect  imposture,  and  would  make  it  possible  so  to  map  out  the  city 
that  one  could  see  what  neighbourhoods  were  most  in  need  of  improve- 
ment. 

All  these  results  of  registration  were  foreseen. 

One  good  result  has  followed  it  which,  so  far  as  I  know,  was  unfore- 
seen. It  spares  many  unnecessary  questions.  This  gain  is  greater  than 
may  at  first  appear.  Not  only  is  some  unnecessary  pain  saved,  not  only 
is  there  less  temptation  to  exaggerate  and  misrepresent,  but  there  is 
lessened,  also,  the  tendency  to  think  one's  self  pre-eminently  interesting 
and  important,  which  is  so  disabling  to  those  who  most  need  that  their 
attention  should  be  drawn  out  of  themselves  and  concentrated  on  the 
effort  to  regain  a  lost  footing  in  the  world. 

This  morbid  state  of  mind  is  as  easily  recognized  by  any  one  familiar 
with  pauperism  as  is  the  litigant's  state  of  mind  to  the  lawyer,  or  the 
hypochondriac's  to  the  doctor,  and  we  too  often  foster  it  by  the  question- 
ings of  misplaced  sympathy — as  dangerous  a  narcotic  as  we  can  give. 
The  registration  of  charitable  societies  may  exist  independent  of  the 
registration  of  individual  charitable  relief  (with  exchange  of  informa- 
tion,) as  is  the  case  in  London  where  the  Charity  Organization  Society 
publishes  the  Charities  Register  and  Digest ;  but  as  it  is  sure  to  be 
carried  on  side  by  side  with  registration  it  is  fair  to  count  it  as  a  coinci- 
dent advantage. 

This  registration  of  charities  (giving  an  account  of  their  objects, 
method  and  scope)  has  a  double  value. 

It  is  not  only  a  means  of  direct  information,  but  it  shows  to  each 
association  what  others  are  working  in  the  same  field,  and,  if  it  is 
widely  enough  read,  it  may  discourage  the  formation  of  unnecessary 
societies,  and  promote  the  combination  of  others.  In  London,  during 
the  last  year,  two  associations  occupying  very  nearly  the  same  field, 
instead  of  longer  crossing  each  other's  paths  have  been  joined  into 
one. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  IO7 

Can  we  show  sufificient  reason  why  charity  organization  societies 
which  have  not  yet  made  registration  a  part  of  their  work  should  do 
so?     I  believe  we  can. 

By  the  consent  of  those  charity  organization  societies  which  now 
employ  registration,  and  by  the  implied  consent  of  their  co-operating 
societies,  it  saves  waste  of  effort  and  money. 

It  checks  imposture  and  the  "speculative  spirit,"  which  is  too  often 
led  on  by  our  easy  indifference  and  pre-occupation. 

It  constructs  for  us  a  map  of  social  conditions  to  which  we  should  do 
well  to  take  heed.  We  see  that  through  certain  houses,  and  sometimes 
through  certain  streets,  moves  a  sad  procession  of  people  on  the  verge 
of  pauperism,  —  drinking,  thriftless,  thoughtless,  half-sick,  which  is 
more  often  the  cause  of  the  other  conditions  than  is  sometimes  acknowl- 
edged. 

We  watch  on  this  map  also  the  drift  of  immigration,  by  which  our 
methods  must  be  shaped. 

A  generation  which  turns  so  eagerly  to  panaceas  as  does  ours,  needs 
registration  as  an  element  of  order  and  organization.  But,  if  thought- 
fully used,  it  is  by  no  means  only  an  element  of  order,  but  becomes  a 
strong  incentive  to  personal  service  on  behalf  of  those  of  our  fellow- 
citizens  who,  for  one  or  another  reason,  are  at  a  disadvantage. 


lo8        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


FRIENDLY    VISITING. 

BY    MRS.   ROGER    WOLCOTT    OF    BOSTON. 

The  principles  which  underlie  friendly  visiting  are  steadily  gaining 
ground  among  the  many  societies  dealing  with  the  problems  of  poverty 
and  vice.  More  and  more  it  is  seen  that  it  is  individual  work,  per- 
sonal love  and  thought  which  alone  can  help  the  weak  and  erring.  In 
dealing  with  the  subject  of  friendly  visiting  to-day,  I  am  looking  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  Associated  Charities,  although  the  same  quali- 
ties required  for  a  visitor  of  this  organization  must  necessarily  belong 
to  the  visitors  of  other  societies  depending  upon  personal  influence  to 
help  them  in  their  work.  In  choosing  a  visitor  for  a  new  case  of  neces- 
sity, we  try  to  provide  the  family  with  one,  who  by  temperament  and 
disposition  is  likely  most  easily  to  enter  into  helpful  relations  with 
them. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  certain  visitors  make  excellent  advisers  for 
people  of  one  race,  when  they  cannot  adapt  themselves  to  those  of 
another.  Oftentimes  we  find  visitors  by  presenting  to  the  members  of 
a  conference  short  synopses  of  the  circumstances,  characteristics  and 
needs  of  various  families,  and  these  are  assigned  to  such  friends  of  the 
members,  as  are  deemed  to  possess  the  necessary  qualifications  or 
peculiar  fitness  for  each  case.  Under  favorable  circumstances,  the 
relation  of  the  friendly  visitor  to  the  family  thus  adopted,  becomes 
very  close  and  intimate. 

What  are  the  qualifications  for  a  good  visitor?  And  why  is  it  that 
often  we  see  a  man  or  woman  of  high  character  and  sincere  purpose 
fail  to  enter  into  sympathetic  relations  with  the  poor  they  undertake  to 
visit?  A  friend  who  had  not  thought  herself  successful  in  visiting  once 
said  to  me,  "I-  cannot  enter  into  relations  with  the  kind  of  persons 
dealt  with  by  the  Associated  Charities,  the  chasm  between  us  is  too 
great."  Another  friend,  also  high-minded  and  conscientious,  said  that 
she  could  not  feel  at  home  with  poor  people  and  that  they  did  not  feel 
at  ease  with  her.  Of  course  under  these  circumstances,  the  very  foun- 
dation of  friendly  visiting  is  lacking.  There  must  be  no  chasm,  there 
must  be  no  sense  of  superiority,  or  condescension  or  difference.      The 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  IO9 

heart  must  be  full  of  love,  the  desire  to  help  so  ardent  that  all  points 
of  difference  are  eliminated  from  the  consciousness,  and  what  is  com- 
mon to  humanity  alone  is  recognized. 

A  visitor  is  generally  introduced  to  a  family  during  some  great 
emergency,  when  it  is  his  privilege  to  render  important  service,  or  to 
enter  into  such  close  and  sympathetic  relations  with  them,  that  he  can 
be  sure  of  a  permanent  vantage  ground  in  their  affection.  And  how 
responsive  is  their  affection,  how  simply  and  naturally  they  accept  the 
friendship  offered,  how  touching  is  their  trust,  their  gratitude  and  their 
patience. 

The  visitor  must  not  allow  the  sympathy  and  confidence  to  be  all  on 
one  side;  he  must  communicate  of  his  own  joys  and  sorrows;  of  his  own 
-experience  and  interests.  Let  the  poor  feel  the  human  touch  in  him, 
and  let  them  see  that  he  accepts  their  sympathy  and  interest.  If  he  is 
a  parent,  let  him  talk  of  his  children,  perhaps  occasionally  take  them 
with  him  on  his  visits.  If  it  seem  practicable,  let  the  poor  visit  him  in 
his  own  home  and  let  them  know  the  members  of  his  family  as  he 
knows  theirs.  The  poor  like  to  hear  even  of  the  social  pleasures  of 
those  whom  they  have  come  to  regard  as  their  friends.  A  young  lady, 
who  was  visitor  to  one  of  the  most  needy  of  our  families,  was  on  one 
■occasion  chagrined  and  somewhat  disturbed  to  find  that  the  father  of 
the  family  had  read  in  the  papers  of  her  presence  at  some  ball,  where 
the  magnificence  of  her  dress  was  set  forth  in  glowing  terms.  She 
showed  her  dismay  in  her  face,  and  the  quick  reply  came,  "Bless  your 
soul.  Miss,  don't  you  mind,  you  might  be  as  rich  as  mud  and  covered 
with  diamonds  from  head  to  foot,  and  I  shouldn't  mind,  you  ain't  the 
kind  I  mind."  Does  not  this  last  sentence  hint  at  the  fact,  that  if  the 
poor  are  sometimes  envious  of  those  more  fortunate  than  themselves,  it 
is  because  the  latter  have  been  first  guilty  of  emphasizing  the  difference 
in  their  conditions  in  an  ostentatious  or  arrogant  spirit.  The  plea 
for  a  sympathetic  relation  of  the  friendly  visitor  to  the  poor  he  visits, 
may  seem  superfluous  sentimentality,  but  it  provides  a  practical  work- 
ing plan;  and  without  it  the  best  principles  and  methods  of  the  most 
enlightened  thought  cannot  achieve  the  truest  success.  Add  to  this 
.sympathy  a  never  failing  hope,  which  knows  not  discouragement,  and  a 
fertility  of  resource,  which  though  often  baffled,  never  despairs,  and  you 
have  some  of  the  most  important  characteristics  of  a  good  visitor. 
There  is  am])le  need  of  zeal,  of  wisdom,  of  self  restraint  in  withholding 


no        INTERNATIONAL   CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

temporary  aid,  when  the  suffering  can  be  radically  helped  only  by  the 
slow  upbuilding  of  character. 

One  of  the  first  efforts  of  the  friendly  visitor  must  be  to  arouse  the 
feeling  of  self-respect ;  the  loss  of  which  is  so  easy  among  the  deaden- 
ing influences  of  a  life  passed  amid  squalid  surroundings,  and  is  so  long 
a  step  into  the  gulf  of  pauperism.  One  of  the  first  encouraging  signs 
in  the  upward  struggle  towards  reformation  of  a  difficult  case,  was  the 
remark  of  a  woman  to  her  visitor;  "Since  I  have  known  you,.  I  feel 
disgusted  with  the  old  life." 

With  the  re-awakened  sense  of  self-respect,  it  is  not  impossible  to 
arouse  a  proper  pride  and  unwillingness  to  accept  alms.  Public  alms 
seem  almost  more  demoralizing  than  private  giving;  for,  while  in  the 
second  case,  the  recipients  are  at  least  aware  that  they  are  receiving 
charity,  in  the  first,  they  seem  to  look  upon  the  help  given  as  almost 
an  inherent  right  of  citizenship.  Once  make  the  case  clear  to  their 
minds,  and  they  will  oftentimes  refuse  to  accept  public  aid.  Two 
families  within  my  knowledge  have  saved  enough  money  to  repay  the 
sums  given  them  by  the  Overseers  of  the  Poor,  and  have  asked  to  have 
their  names  erased  from  the  official  records  of  that  body.  One 
encouraging  sign  of  restored  self-respect  .in  a  family,  which  had  come 
to  the  Associated  Charities  as  one  of  the  city's  free  soup  applicants 
occurred  after  some  years  of  friendly  visiting.  Their  regular  visitor, 
being  unable  for  a  time  to  visit,  employed  a  substitute  to  take  her  place. 
Some  months  later,  on  resuming  the  charge  herself,  she  visited  the 
family  one  day,  and  found  them  in  much  trouble;  two  of  the  wage- 
earners  being  out  of  work,  owing  to  a  dull  season,  and  the  head  of  the 
family  being  ill.  The  substitute  had  sent  in  a  bag  of  flour;  but 
although  the  family  were  in  real  need,  they  asked  their  regular  visitor 
if  she  thought  it  would  be  wrong  to  send  it  back,  '-because  they  did  not 
wish  to  be  paupers."  The  friendly  visitor,  by  tact  and  delicate  sugges- 
tion, must  instil  a  desire  for  cleanliness,  so  necessary  to  self-respect. 
Mr.  William  D.  Howells,  who  during  his  recent  residence  in  Boston  gave 
much  of  his  valuable  time  as  a  visitor  for  the  Associated  Charities,  was 
amused  one  day  to  be  told,  on  knocking  at  the  door  of  a  house  where 
he  had  studiously  endeavored  to  inspire  a  sense  of  cleanliness,  that  he 
could  not  come  in,  as  the  floor  had  just  been  washed,  and  he  might  soil 
it  again. 

The  visitor  ought  to  be  able  to  give  practical  advice  as  to  the  best 
and  cheapest  kinds  of  food,  and  the  wholesome  preparation  of  the  same. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  HI 

If  a  woman,  the  visitor  ought  to  be  able  to  give  valuable  hints  for  the 
making  and  mending  of  clothes  and  as  to  the  proper  materials  there- 
for. The  visitor's  influence  must  be  used  to  see  that  the  children  are 
being  Avell  trained  in  schools  and  in  those  clubs  which  furnish  a  stimulus  to 
self-improvement.  Through  Mr.  Charles  W.  Birtwell's  scheme  of  Home 
Libraries,  much  may  be  done  to  make  the  home  a  centre  of  interest 
both  to  parents  and  children,  I  have  recently  read  a  report  of  the  vis- 
itor of  one  of  these  home  library  clubs,  which  consists  of  thirteen 
boys  from  eleven  to  twelve  years  of  age.  In  speaking  of  the  most 
earnest  of  them,  he  says,  "Their  reading  has  been  very  wide  and  well 
selected,  and  they  retain  remarkably  well  what  they  read.  They  have 
learned  almost  by  heart  Young's  histories,  Abbott's  biographies,  besides 
a  vast  amount  of  collateral  matter.  One  of  them  has  read  the  Iliad 
and  the  Odyssey  in  some  translation.  They  are  very  familiar  with 
Scott  and  Cooper,  and  have  read  much  of  Longfellow,  Dickens,  Burns, 
and  Gray.  These  boys  address  to  me  profound  questions;  for  instance, 
on  one  occasion,  Albert  asked,  'What  is  the  greatest  poem  in  the 
English  language?'  '  That  is  hard  to  tell,'  I  replied,  'but  I  should 
say  Paradise  Lost.'  'There,  I  told  you  so,'  exclaimed  Albert  to  Henry, 
who  said  he  had  thought  it  was  Gray's  Elegy." 

Provident  and  frugal  habits  are  encouraged  by  the  Stamp  Saving 
Society,  also  by  the  Home  Saving  Society,  whose  agents  call  each  week 
on  a  fixed  day,  in  order  to  collect  the  penny  savings,  until  the  delighted 
contributor  finds  he  has  accumulated  enough  to  enter  upon  the  dignity 
of  a  separate  bank  account.  To  those  who  try  to  help  the  unfortunate, 
the  problem  of  intemperance  presents  the  greatest  difficulties.  Here, 
too,  much  may  be  accomplished  by  a  faithful,  loving  spirit  which 
hopeth  all  things.  Very  frequent  visiting,  and  all  the  personal  influ- 
ence and  power  one  can  bring  to  bear,  are  necessary  for  the  task. 
Between  the  visits,  in  extreme  cases  where  the  will  power  is  much 
vitiated,  it  is  a  good  plan  to  ask  the  sufferer  to  report  daily,  by  a  pos- 
tal card,  if  all  is  well.  By  a  victim  of  this  habit,  a  promise  of  self- 
control  from  day  to  day,  is  more  likely  to  be  kept  than  a  pledge  which 
covers  a  longer  period.  When  the  habit  is  too  strong  to  yield  to  these 
simple  methods,  we  have  taken  advantage  of  the  dypsomaniac  law  and 
have  had  our  patients  committed  to  the  insane  asylums.  Now  that 
the  state  of  Massachusetts  has  built  a  separate  institution  for  the  treat- 
ment of  these  cases,  better  results  are  hoped  for  than  were  possible 
under    the   old    system.      In   one    instance,   the    superintendent  of   the 


112        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

insane  asylum  tried  with  considerable  success  the  experiment  of  doub- 
ling the  period  of  confinement  on  each  recurring  commitment. 

I  have  imperfectly  indicated  some  of  the  qualifications  for  friendly 
visiting,  and  tried  to  present  a  few  of  the  practical  questions  which 
confront  the  visitor.  The  wiser  the  visitor,  the  richer  the  gifts  he  can 
bring  to  his  work,  the  greater  will  be  his  usefulness,  provided  always 
that  with  his  experience  and  judgment  he  brings  to  the  service  a  hope 
not  easily  discouraged,  and  a  spirit  of  sympathy  and  love.  Often  the 
fresh  zeal  and  interest  of  an  inexperienced  visitor  accomplish  better 
results  than  the  efforts  of  a  trained  worker  who  has  allowed  himself 
to  lose  hope  because  of  previous  discouragements. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  the  relation  existing  between  the 
visitor  and  the  family  committed  to  his  charge,  I  wish  to  urge  that  even 
in  the  case  of  the  family  becoming  self-supporting,  the  visitor  must  not 
altogether  withdraw  his  watchful  care.  Friendship  may  not  be  thus 
lightly  broken,  and  should  an  emergency  arise  in  which  there  is  oppor- 
tunity of  a  friendly  word  of  warning  or  advice,  the  poor  family  should 
not  have  lost  their  touch  with  the  friend  they  have  learned  to  consult 
and  trust.  If  all  were  wise,  all  worthy  of  becoming  their  brother's 
keeper,  the  conference  would  not  be  so  essential  a  part  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Associated  Charities  as  it  now  is.  The  questions  which  the 
visitors  individually  have  found  too  hard  for  them,  have  been  answered 
before  by  some  fellow-worker  who  imparts  the  benefit  of  his  experience, 
and  who,  in  return,  receives  new  suggestions  to  help  him  in  his  work. 
The  visitors  find  relief  and  help  in  confiding  their  difficulties  to  a  band 
of  interested  hearers  who  are  all  working  in  the  same  cause  and  who 
can  help  by  practical  suggestions,  as  well  as  by  sympathy. 

No  consideration  of  the  work  of  the  visitors  of  the  Associated  Chari- 
ties would  be  complete  without  mention  of  the  agent,  a  salaried 
official  who  keeps  fixed  hours  at  headquarters  and  who  is  the  center  of 
the  group  of  visitors.  She  gives  to  one  what  she  has  received  from 
another,  and  adds  to  it  from  her  own  experience  and  thought.  She 
has  a  knowledge  of  new  and  important  legislation  bearing  upon  the 
work.  She  is  in  touch  with  other  charitable  societies  of  the  city,  and 
is  often  helped  in  suggesting  new  plans  of  work  to  be  carried  on  by 
the  conference.  With  the  help  of  the  conference  and  the  agent,  there- 
fore, the  visitor  can  enter  upon  his  work  without  the  necessity  of  pre- 
vious training,  other  than  that  which  has  been  afforded  him  by  the  cir- 
cumstances of  his  own  life. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION. 


113 


In  accordance  with  the  present  standard  for  friendly  visiting,  it  will 
be  seen  that  fully  to  perform  the  necessary  duties  of  the  position,  it  is 
wiser,  in  most  cases,  to  conline  one's  care  to  not  more  than  two  families. 
It  is  therefore  necessary  that  there  be  many  workers  in  the  field.  The 
number  is  slowly  increasing,  but  we  need  many  more.  In  my  judg- 
ment, the  district  plan  of  visiting  is  unsatisfactory  in  comparison  with 
the  system  described  above.  In  the, former  the  method  of  assignment 
is  one  of  locality  and  not  that  of  peculiar  fitness  of  the  visitor  to  the 
family  in  need  of  aid.  Secondly,  it  has  been  noticed  in  the  work  of 
our  ward  branch  of  the  Associated  Charities,  that  it  is  not  well  for  a 
visitor  to  have  under  his  care  families  who  are  acquainted  with  each 
other;  and  it  has  been  proved  difficult,  even  with  the  greatest  tact,  to 
avoid  awakening  suspicion  and  jealousy,  which  interfere  much  with 
one's  opportunities  for  usefulness.  We  now  try  to  assign  to  a  visitor 
families  who  are  not  likely  to  have  intercourse  with  each  other.  There- 
fore, whatever  the  district  plan  may  appear  to  gain  in  simplicity  and 
precision  of  method,  it  loses  in  the  lesser  degree  of  personality,  and 
the  greater  friction  involved  in  its  operation.  The  element  of  personal 
and  friendly  interest,  which  lies  at  the  very  foundation  of  genuine  and 
efficient  aid  of  the  poor,  cannot  be  attained  by  statutory  enactment  or 
by  town  vote.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  poor  would  enter  into  the 
same  relations  of  intimacy  and  confidence  with  visitors  so  appointed; 
and  the  result  seems  inevitable  that  they  would  be  regarded  as  officials 
performing  an  obligatory  duty.  I  believe  therefore,  that  there  is  a 
radical  defect  in  the  theory  of  the  Elberfeld  system  of  enforced  muni- 
cipal visiting  of  the  poor,  and  I  fear  that  in  this  country,  under  its  pre- 
sent political  conditions,  the  practice  would  be  worse  than  the  theory. 

I  feel  that  every  visitor  of  the  Associated  Charities  may  do  much  in 
arousing  interest  among  his  friends  in  this  most  important  Avork;  and 
I  would  urge  upon  the  members  of  conferences  that  they  should  use  their 
influence  to  extend  the  work  so  far  as  it  lies  in  their  power.  Much  can 
be  done  by  arousing  and  educating  public  sentiment,  and  I  hope  the 
time  may  not  be  far  distant,  when  all  those  who  are  rich  in  this  world's 
opportunities  and  see  that  their  brethren  have  need,  shall  lend  of  their 
time  and  strength  to  help  those  unfortunate  ones,  so  heavily  conditioned 
in  the  school  of  life. 


8 
I 


114        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


THE  CO-OPERATION  OF   PUBLIC  WITH  PRIVATE 
CHARITABLE    AGENCIES. 

BY    ALEXANDER    JOHNSON,    SECRETARY    OF    BOARD    OF    STATE    CHARITIES, 

INDIANAPOLIS,    IND. 

As  my  friend  and  colleague,  Professor  Warner,  is  to  discuss  the  sub- 
ject of  "Subsidizing  of  Private  Charitable  Agencies  from  the  Public 
Purse,"  it  is  evident  that  the  co-operation  of  public  with  private  chari- 
table agencies,  of  which  I  am  to  speak,  does  not  include  those  most 
important  forms  which  are  exercised  in  institutions  of  miscellaneous 
support  or  control,  most  important  when  considered  as  to  their  imme- 
diate financial  amount  in  cost  to  the  public,  or  as  to  their  ulterior 
effects. 

The  co-operation  of  which  I  propose  to  speak,  is  chiefly  that  of  the 
overseers  of  the  poor  or  relieving  officers  with  the  various  charitable 
agencies,  which  together  form  the  circle  of  charities  in  our  towns  and 
cities, 

A  few  years  ago  the  thought  of  such  co-operation  as  we  now  make 
our  aim  would  have  been  treated  with  neglect  or  derision.  The  intel- 
ligent, thoughtful  agent  of  the  public  bounty  looked  upon  private  char- 
itable work  as  either  useless  from  its  irregularity,  its  inefficiency  and  its 
insufficiency,  or  as  mischievous  from  its  tendency  to  pauperize.  He 
regarded  the  occasional  question  from  volunteer  charity  workers,  as  to 
what  he  would  do  or  was  doing  for  a  given  family,  as  perhaps  well 
meaning,  but  certainly  impertinent  meddling,  and  his  answers  were  not 
such  as  to  encourage  the  question  becoming  frequent. 

The  public  agent  who  was  not  thoughtful  nor  intelligent  looked  on 
the  private  charitable  agents  as  a  nuisance  to  be  abated.  Their  ques- 
tions being  based  on  the  theory  that  the  object  of  his  office  was  to 
relieve  the  destitute,  especially  the  class  sentimentally  called  the  worthy 
poor,  were  alien  to  his  views.  He  held  his  position  because  he  had 
been  and  was  expected  to  be  active  and  successful  in  the  political  work 
of  his  precinct  or  ward.  That  was  his  raison  cP etre.  Enquiries  from 
so-called  good  people  as  to  why  he  had  not  aided  this,  that  or  the 
other   poor   person,   and   still  more  why  he   had   aided  certain   other 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  II5 

persons  whom  not  even  the  most  gushing  would  class  as  worthy  poor, 
were  very  naturally  resented  as  childish  and  silly  as  well  as  vexatious. 

But  things  have  changed  in  this  respect,  especially  during  the  last 
twelve  or  fifteen  years,  and  the  cause  of  the  change  has  been  the  rise 
of  the  principle  of  charity  organization.  Like  all  other  great  princi- 
ples that  have  been  applied  to  human  efforts,  this  has  had  an  effect 
much  wider  than  its  immediate  application.  The  leaven  has  spread 
beyond  the  bounds  of  the  societies  working  under  the  name,  and  most 
forms  of  charity,  even  the  most  conservative,  have  felt  its  influence  to 
some  extent.  A  certain  degree  of  co-operation,  or  at  any  rate,  a 
thought  that  co-operation  of  this  kind  might  be  advisable  may  be 
noticed  in  many  places,  still  it  is  only  in  the  cities  having  charity 
organization  societies,  or  other  societies  imbued  with  their  principles, 
that  it  has  taken  definite  and  noticeable  form. 

For  various  reasons  the  public  relief  of  the  poor  is  one  of  the  first 
departments  of  charity  to  receive  attention  from  a  new  charity  organi- 
zation society.  Its  amount  can  be  precisely  known,  and  is  often  looked 
upon  by  economical  public  officers  and  taxpayers  as  excessive.  Its 
methods  of  administration  often  appear  open  to  criticism.  It  appears 
to  be  given  without  discrimination  and  in  many  places  without  proper 
investigation.  It  does  not  and  cannot  regard  the  moral  worth  of  those 
upon  whom  it  is  bestowed,  but  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  regards  their 
physical  condition,  and  so  it  is  not  satisfactory  to  the  great  bulk  of 
charity  workers,  who  still  persist  in  dividing  the  poor  into  two  great 
groups,  the  worthy  and  unworthy,  the  sheep  and  the  goats  of  the  chari- 
table fold.  The  sheep,  who  are  to  be  led  into  the  green  pastures  and 
beside  the  quiet  waters  of  plenteous  material  aid,  and  the  goats,  who 
are  to  be  shut  into  the  outer  darkness  of  refusal,  with  the  possible  excep- 
tion of  those  who  will  consent  to  go  to  the  poorhouse. 

Public  relief  usually  appears  insufficient  in  amount,  especially  to  the 
minds  of  the  recipients.  It  is  not  often  designed  as  complete  support, 
but  as  partial  or  temporary  aid,  and  as  those  who  apply  for  it  usually 
imagine  themselves  entitled  to  complete  support,  or  at  any  rate  to  all 
that  they  can  get,  they  are  generally  found  among  the  applicants  at 
every  other  available  source  of  relief.  So  that  their  names  are  sure  to 
be  among  those  detected  in  what  we  call  duplication.  Besides  all  these 
reasons  is  the  fact,  that  many  scientists  in  charity  reprehend  public  out- 
door relief  altogether,  and  the  young  enthusiasm  of  the  charity  organi- 
zation society  is  naturally  turned  to  efforts  to  abolish  or  retrench  a  suf- 


Il6        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

ficiently   condemned    evil.      Efforts   of   charity    organization    societies 
towards  this  form  of  co-operation  have  often  been  quite  successful. 

Several  attempts  have  been  made  with  greater  or  less  success  by  the 
committee  on  charity  organization  of  the  National  Conference,  to 
estimate  by  means  of  percentages  the  degree  of  co-operation  attained 
between  the  various  charitable  agencies  and  the  agents  of  public  relief. 
The  most  careful  and  successful  of  these  attempts  was  made  by  the 
committee  which  reported  to  the  fourteenth  Conference  at  Omaha  about 
six  years  ago.  At  that  time  several  societies  reported  their  co-opera- 
tion with  public  relief  agencies  as  complete,  claiming  a  full  loo  per 
cent.  At  many  other  times  societies  have  reported  better  success  in 
securing  co-operation  with  such  agencies  than  with  any  other  kind. 
And  the  experience  of  most  of  us  who  have  set  about  it  in  earnest  has 
been  that  a  formal  co-operation  is  often  more  easily  obtained  with  the 
public  officers  than  with  most  of  the  other  charitable  agencies.  This 
last  remark  must  be  taken  with  some  qualification.  It  is  a  curious 
coincidence,  if  it  is  only  a  coincidence,  that  with  one  or  two  notable 
exceptions  the  charity  organization  society  and  the  associated  charities 
which  have  been  most  successful  in  securing  the  cordial  sympathy  and 
practical  co-operation  of  the  churches  and  their  relief  societies,  have 
not  been  the  most  successful  with  public  officials.  I  will  not  attempt 
to  explain  this  fact,  nor  to  find  the  ethical  or  social  law  underlying  it, 
if  there  be  one.  I  merely  state  a  fact  which  I  believe  the  charity 
organization  society  delegates  from  Philadelphia  and  New  York  will 
bear  me  out  in.  I  confess  that  in  my  own  experience  in  Cincinnati 
and  Chicago  I  was  always  most  successful  with  the  churches. 

In  considering  the  question  of  co-operation  between  public  and 
private  agencies,  it  is  essential  to  remember  the  great  variance  between 
the  work  of  public  relief  in  different  states,  a  variance  partly  of  law 
and  partly  of  practice.  In  some  states  the  laws  are  precise  and  the 
limits  of  legal  relief  clearly  defined,  in  others  they  are  very  vague  and 
the  overseer  of  the  poor  is  almost  a  law  unto  himself,  and  is  only 
limited  by  the  public  opinion  which  is  against  lavish  expenditure  on 
the  one  hand,  and  against  neglect  of  suffering  on  the  other.  In  some 
states  a  settlement  can  be  lost  without  another  being  gained  elsewhere; 
in  others  no  pauper  can  be  left  thus  belonging  nowhere,  but  retains 
his  <9/rt:' belonging  until  he  gains  a  new  one.  And  in  some  states  a  law 
which  allows  of  aid  to  strangers  in  urgent  need,  is  stretched  to  cover  all 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  II7 

sorts  of  tramps  and  vagrants.  In  some  States  the  laws  appear  purposely 
loose  and  are  differently  interpreted  by  each  different  officer. 

The  first  essential  of  co-operation  is  mutual  confidence,  the  next  is 
clear  mutual  understanding.  If  you  and  I  agree  to  work  together  for 
a  common  aim,  we  must  have  confidence  in  each  other  that  each  will 
do  what  he  agrees  to  do,  we  must  understand  each  other,  so  that  each 
will  not  attempt  to  do  the  other's  share. 

Now  it  is  often  very  hard  for  the  public  official  to  have  confidence  in 
the  work  of  the  benevolent  society — because  the  average  benevolent 
society  neither  can  nor  will  accept  much  responsibility.  This  is  in  fact 
its  usual  greatest  weakness,  that  its  directors  and  officers  do  not  feel 
sufficiently  their  responsibility  to  do  all  the  work  that  their  society,  is 
organized  for  doing.  I  have  often  heard  an  agent  of  a  private  benevo- 
lent society  say,  "We  cannot  help  these  cases  for  want  of  means." 
The  assertion  is  usually  false,  or  has  been  so  in  my  experience,  merely 
an  excuse  to  get  rid  of  the  cases  in  point;  but  it  shows  the  lack  of  the 
feeling  of  responsibility.  A  society  organized  for  a  certain  work  can 
no  more  refuse  to  do  all  the  work  for  which  it  is  organized  that  comes 
in  its  way,  than  a  bank  can  refuse  to  cash  its  notes;  in  either  case 
the  result  is  practical  bankruptcy  and  should  result  in  suspension  of 
the  business;  if  it  does  not  suspend,  the  bankruptcy  becomes  a  fraudu- 
lent one. 

This  is  one  of  the  great  hindrances  to  co-operation  between  public 
and  private  relief  agencies,  that  the  public  agent  cannot  depend  on  the 
private  society  to  keep  its  word  and  live  up  to  its  professions. 

Another  great  obstacle  in  the  way  of  co-operation  between  private 
and  public  benevolence  is  the  hasty  and  inexperienced  investigations 
with  which  private  benevolence  often  contents  itself.  The  private 
almoner  discovers  what  is  to  her  a  new  case  in  most  urgent  distress. 
She  rushes  off  to  the  overseer  to  help  her  to  give  relief — for  more 
is  needed  than  she  can  supply  alone — and  he  tells  her  it  is  an  old 
chronic  case  of  vice  and  beggary  utterly  unworthy,  or  criminal,  and 
so  forth.  He  naturally  has  little  confidence  in  a  report  from  the 
same  person  about  a  case  of  which  he  knows  nothing,  should  such 
come  in.  Here  comes  in  the  great  opportunity  of  the  charity  orga- 
nization society.  If  it  sees  and  accepts  it,  it  is  certain  of  suc- 
cessful establishment.  A  charity  organization  society  does  not  agree  to 
DO  relief  work  but  to  see  it  done,  so  that  if  one  relief  agency  fails  it 
can   and   will  secure   another.      I   know   that   the  giving  or  securing  of 


Il8        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

material  relief  is  the  smallest  part  of  the  function  of  a  charity  organi- 
tion  society.  Still  it  is  a  function  of  a  charity  organization  society,  and 
an  essential  one;  and  much  of  the  society's  success  depends  upon  its^ 
being  properly  performed.  The  charity  organization  society,  feeling 
and  accepting  the  responsibility,  is  able  to  propose  plans  of  co-operation 
to  the  overseer  of  the  poor  which  he  can  accept  with  confidence. 

These  plans  are  of  four  kinds,  to  which  I  must  refer  very  briefly  :  — 
ist.  Co-operation  in  securing  and  imparting  information,  including 
registration.  2nd.  Co-operation  in  giving  relief.  3rd.  Mutual  deli- 
mitation of  work.      4th.    Co-operation  in  withholding. 

The  first  of  these  kinds  of  co-working  often  depends  at  its  beginning 
upon  the  second,  though  it  naturally  precedes  the  others  in  order. 
There  are  some  relief  societies  and  some  public  agents  of  charity  who 
make  very  accurate  and  wise  investigations,  but  they  are  the  exceptions. 
The  charity  organization  society  agent  who  studies  his  work  has  availa- 
ble now  such  a  mass  of  printed  assistance,  that  his  investigations  with 
but  little  training  soon  become  superior  to  the  work  of  most  public  offi- 
cers; especially  is  this  true  as  soon  as  complete  or  even  partial  co-opera- 
tive registration  of  the  charity  work  of  a  city  has  been  established. 

The  second,  i.  e.,  co-operalion  in  giving  relief,  is  usually  the  easiest 
way  to  begin.  Many  relief  societies  and  some  public  agents  establish 
queer  limits  for  themselves,  such  as,  that  they  will  not  give  fuel  and  food 
to  the  same  family — that  they  will  not  pay  rent — that  they  will  not  give 
any  money — or — that  they  will  not  give  anything  in  kind.  In  these 
cases,  with  the  charity  organization  society  as  the  medium,  two  or 
more  relief  agencies  can  often  work  together  usefully  as  well  as  with 
those  societies  which  exist  for  certain  specific  kinds  of  relief,  like  diet 
kitchens,  flower  missions,  coal  charities,  &c. 

3rd.  The  third  form,  mutual  delimitation  of  work,  is  one  of  the  most 
practical  and  useful.  It  often  needs  a  high  degree  of  confidence,  as  where,, 
for  instance,  a  charity  organization  society  says  to  the  overseer  of  the 
poor,  "  We  will  take  the  responsibility  of  all  new  cases,  send  them  to 
us  without  investigation,  you  may  still  help  those  on  the  poor  books  ; 
let  us  keep  the  new  cases  off  them,  for  once  on  it  is  hard  to  get  them 
off  again." 

A  more  usual  form  is  when  the  charity  organization  society  takes  all 
the  cases  which  only  a  strained  construction  of  law  allows  the  overseer 
to  help,  and  yet  whose  necessity  seems  so  great  that  he  feels  they  need 
and  must  have   aid.     To  this  kind  belong  the  frequent  mutual  agree- 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  ITQ 

ments  as   to   the   placing  of  paupers  in  almshouses  or  hospitals,  at  the 
request  of  the  private  agency  or  charity  organization  society. 

4th.  Co-operation  in  withholding.  This  is  the  height  of  practical 
co-operation  between  the  public  and  private  agencies,  and  needs  the 
highest  confidence. 

When  a  charity  agent  can  say  to  the  overseer  with  regard  to  a 
certain  family — "They  need  to  be  thrown  on  their  own  resources; 
we  will  watch  them  and  secure  aid  if  it  is  best  for  them — you  leave  them 
to  us."  And  when  the  overseer  has  confidence  that  the  work  will  be 
done  as  planned  and  that  only  a  kind  severity  will  be  exercised,  we 
have  got  near  to  success  in  co-operation. 

I  have  not  spoken  about  the  form  of  co-operation  by  delimitation, 
which  prevails  in  a  few  cities,  where  the  overseer  of  the  poor  gives  no 
out-door  relief,  but  agrees  to  send  to  the  poorhouse  or  city  hospital  all 
who  should  go,  and  leave  everything  else  to  the  private  society,  because 
however  good  it  may  be,  it  is  hardly  to  be  called  co-operative,  and  co- 
operation is  what  I  had  given  me  for  a  subject.  I  have  sometimes  felt 
that  when  charity  organization  societies  have  claimed  full  co-operation 
with  public  relief  agencies,  they  are  giving  the  term  a  different  mean- 
ing from  the  one  I  give  it.  And  the  mutual  delimitation  such  as  our  Eng- 
lish friends  develop  between  poor  law  and  charity,  is  again  very  differ- 
ent from  what  we  mean  by  co-operation,  a  co-operation  which  has 
something  of  the  sentiment  of  brotherhood  in  it.  It  means  more  than 
an  agreement  as  to  how  to  do  certain  work  or  leave  it  undone.  It 
means  hearty,  cordial  sympathy,  wise  help,  and  true  encouragement. 

I  have  only  time  to  say,  that  the  place  to  effect  co-operation,  to  win 
each  other's  confidence  and  keep  it,  is  the  weekly  conference  meeting. 
Get  your  overseer  of  the  poor  to  attend;  let  him  learn  how  you  really 
feel  and  talk  of  your  poor  people,  and  he  will  soon  say  and  feel  that 
you  help  him  and  he  wants  to  help  you.  He  will  soon  feel  that  he 
is  a  part  of  the  weekly  conference  and  belongs  there.  You  will  find  his 
point  of  view  a  little  different  from  yours, — all  the  better  that  you 
shall  see  with  a  different  pair  of  eyes.  The  more  varied  the  point  of 
view  the  truer  the  conclusions. 

You  will  do  him  a  great  deal  of  good  and  he  you.  The  profits  of  true 
co-operation  are  essentially  mutual. 


I20       INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


PUBLIC    SUBSIDIES   TO    PRIVATE    CHARITIES. 

BY    AMOS    G.    WARNER,    PH.     D.,    LATE    OF    WASHINGTON,     D.    C. ,    AND    NOW 
PROFESSOR    IN    THE    STANFORD    UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA. 

On  the  second  of  last  February,  while  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  was  sitting  as  town  council  for  the  city  of  Washington,  a  member 
moved  to  amend  the  appropriation  bill  by  inserting  a  proviso  that 
almshouse  inmates  and  other  paupers  and  destitute  persons,  who  might 
be  a  charge  upon  the  public,  should  be  turned  over  to  any  private  insti- 
tution that  would  contract  to  provide  for  them  at  ten  per  cent,  less  than 
they  were  then  costing  the  District.  Senator  Call,  who  introduced  the 
amendment,  explained  that  it  was  in  lieu  of  one  which  had  been 
rejected  at  the  previous  session  of  Congress,  whereby  he  had  sought  to 
have  forty  thousand  dollars  of  public  money  given  to  the  Little  Sisters 
of  the  Poor,  to  enable  them  to  build  an  addition  to  their  home  for  the 
aged.  He  defended  the  original  proposal  on  the  ground  that  this 
sisterhood  cared  for  the  aged  poor  better  and  more  cheaply  than  the 
almshouse,  and  that  the  existence  of  their  institution  had  saved  to  the 
tax-payers  of  the  District,  in  the  last  twenty  years,  a  sum  believed  to 
be  not  less  than  three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  It  was  not  a  novel 
plea,  for  Congress  had  already  appropriated,  since  1874,  fifty-five 
thousand  dollars  to  aid  the  Home  for  the  Aged  of  the  Little  Sisters  of 
the  Poor;  and  each  year  the  District  appropriation  bill  has  included 
subsidies  for  a  large  number  of  private  charitable  institutions,  some  of 
them  avowedly  under  sectarian  management  and  others  not.  How  far 
the  tendency  to  grant  public  subsidies  to  private  charities  has  gone 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  is  in  some  sort,  indicated  in  the  following 
table: 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION. 


121 


DISTRICT    OF    COLUMBIA    APPROPRIATIONS    FOR    PUBLIC    AS    COMPARED 
WITH    PRIVATE    CHARITIES    DURING    THIRTEEN    YEARS. 


NO.    OF 
INSTIT-NS 

TOTALS    FOR    MAINTENANCE 

TOTALS    FOR    WHOLE     PERIOD-13    YEARS 

1880 

1892 

1 
1380              '                1892 

1 

^IN- 
CREASE 

CONSTHUO- 
TION 

MAINTENANCE 

CONST.  ANO 

MAINTENANCE 

COMBINED 

Public  Institut'nS| 
Private           "          ; 

7 
8 

6 
28 

$78,048.82        $119,475.50 
46,500.00    '       117,630.00 

160 

$155,130.70 
300,812.53 

1 
$1,296,125.95 

840,940.00 

$1,351,256.65 
1,141,752.53 

Totals  .     .     .     1 

$124,548.82 

$237,105.50 

*455-943-23 

$2,137,065.95 

$2,493,009.18 

From  this  table  it  will  be  seen  that  the  amount  given  annually  for 
maintenance  to  private  charitable  institutions  at  the  beginning  of  the 
period  was  a  little  less  than  one-third  of  the  whole  amount,  while  at 
the  close  of  the  period  it  is  a  little  less  than  one -half.  The  most  sur- 
prising fact,  however,  is  that  the  District  has  given  to  private  institu- 
tions nearly  twice  as  much  money  to  be  used  in  acquiring  real  estate 
and  erecting  buildings,  as  it  has  granted  to  its  own  public  institutions. 
Were  we  to  deduct  a  sum  of  $66,900  charged  to  the  workhouse,  a 
purely  correctional  branch  of  the  so-called  Washington  Asylum,  it 
would  appear  that  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  money  appropriated 
for  permanent  improvements  in  charitable  institutions  was  given  to 
private  corporations  to  spend. 

The  government  of  the  District  of  Columbia  is,  of  course,  in  many 
respects  unique,  but  this  tendency  to  vote  public  money  to  private  chari- 
ties is  by  no  means  peculiar  to  it.  The  best  known  example  of  persis- 
tence in  the  policy  of  reckless  subsidies  to  private  institutions  is  that  of 
New  York.  A  single  institution  in  this  state,  officered  by  a  religious 
order,  receives  from  city  governments  more  than  $260,000  per  year. 
A  list  of  over  two  hundred  private  institutions  for  orphan  children  and 
the  friendless  in  New  York  state,  shows  that  of  their  total  revenue  but 
$1,225,104.69  was  derived  from  legacies,  donations  and  private  contri- 
butions, while  more  than  twice  as  much,  $2,664,614.40,  came  from  the 
taxpayers  of  the  state,  the  counties  and  the  cities.  A  great  part  of  the 
money  handed  over  for  disbursement  to  private  institutions  goes  for  the 
support  of  dependent  children.  The  law  ])rovides  for  the  placing  of 
such  children  in  institutions  of  the  same  religious  faith  as  the  parents 
of  the  child,  and  that  the  local  authorities  shall  pay  a  certain  weekly 


122        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS   OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


Stipend  for  its  maintenance.  The  managers  of  the  institutions  can 
admit  children  and  have  them  charged  to  the  public.  If  parents  wish 
to  have  a  child  educated  in  the  faith  of  a  sect  at  the  expense  of  the 
public,  they  have  only  to  get  it  admitted  to  one  of  the  institutions,  and 
many  well-to-do  people  are  known  to  avail  themselves  of  the  privilege. 
As,  at  the  rates  paid,  there  is  a  slight  profit  to  the  institutions  on  each 
child  admitted,  they  are  none  too  careful  about  investigating  the  cases 
of  applicants.  The  results  of  this  system  are  indicated  by  the  fact 
that  New  York  city  has  a  daily  average  of  upwards  of  15,000  dependent 
children,  or  about  one  in  one  hundred  of  the  population.  The  propor- 
tion of  dependent  children  to  the  population  of  the  state  is  i  to  251. 
In  Michigan,  under  a  system  of  state  care  and  placing  out,  it  is  i  to 
10,000.  California,  which  has  practically  the  same  system  as  New 
York  state,  has  nearly  the  same  high  proportion  of  dependent  children, 
viz:    I  to  290. 

According  to  Mrs.  Josephine  Shaw  Lowell,  the  administrative  result 
of  this  policy  in  New  York  city  has  been  to  build  up  the  private  elee- 
mosynary institutions  at  the  expense  of  the  public  ones.  She  gives 
the  following  statement,  covering  a  series  of  years,  to  show  this: 


FOR  PRISONERS 

FOR  PAUPERS  IN 

YEAR 

POPULATION 

AND  PUBLIC 
PAUPERS 

PRIVATE 
INSTITUTIONS 

TOTAL 

1850 

515:547 

$421,882 

$9>863 

^431^745 

i860 

813,669 

746,549 

128,850 

875.399 

1870 

942,292 

i.355>6i5 

334,828 

1,690,443 

1880 

1,206,577 

1,348,383 

1,414,257 

2,761,640 

1890 

1,600,000 

1,949,100 

■ 

1,845,872 

3>794,972 

The  appropriations  for  1890  to  private  institutions  fall  under  three 
heads: 

For  defective,  sick  and  vicious, ^133,565 

For  children  admitted  by  managers, 1,081,746 

For  board  of  children  committed  by  magistrates,  630,561 

Total, $1,845,872 

After  showing  how  ruthlessly  the  estimates  for  the  public  charities 
were  cut  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Control,  she  says: 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  I  23 

"The  point  to  which  I  wish  to  call  attention  is  that  the  city  continues, 
at  the  bidding  of  the  legislature,  to  pay,  without  protest,  year  by  year 
increasing  sums  for  the  support  of  public  dependents  under  care  of 
private  persons  in  private  institutions,  many  of  whom,  but  for  this  pro- 
vision, would  probably  not  be  dependent  at  all,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  the  public  dependents  under  the  care  of  public  officers  in  public 
institutions  are  housed  in  buildings  which  are  in  danger  of  falling  down 
and  are  a  discredit  to  the  city." 

In  1889  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania  appointed  a  special  commit- 
tee, which  investigated  very  fully  the  management  of  the  charitable  and 
correctional  institutions  of  the  state,  and  especially  the  methods 
employed  by  such  institutions  in  securing  public  appropriations.  The 
constitution  of  Pennsylvania  forbids  the  granting  of  public  funds  to 
"sectarian"  institutions,  but  the  word  "sectarian"  is  not  defined,  and 
the  report  of  the  committee  shows  a  strong  tendency  to  increase  the 
number  and  amount  of  the  state  subsidies  granted  to  private  charities. 
This  tendency  is  characterized  as  an  "insidious  danger."  The  com- 
mittee tabulated  the  expenditures  during  a  series  of  years  for  charitable 
and  correctional  purposes,  amounting  to  about  $37,000,000,  and  found 
that  nearly  a  third  of  it  went  to  private  institutions.     The  report  says: 

"The  remarkable  increase  during  the  last  few  years  in  the  number  of 
institutions  receiving  aid  from  the  state  is  confined,  in  great  part,  to 
the  so-called  private  charities,  or  private  hospitals,  homes  for  the  desti- 
tute and  to  miscellaneous  charities.  A  proportionate  increase  will  soon 
render  the  commonwealth  a  contributor  to  the  funds  of  every  charitable 
institution  in  the  state." 

The  fact  mentioned  above,  that  there  is  no  generally  recognized 
definition  of  the  word  "sectarian,"  is  noteworthy.  There  are  few  insti- 
tutions that  will  admit  its  applicability  to  themselves,  and  there  are  few 
to  which  it  is  not  applied  by  some  one.  I  have  been  gravely  assured 
that  an  institution  administered  entirely  by  the  oath-bound  members  of 
a  religious  order,  was  not  sectarian  for  two  reasons  ;  first,  because  it 
admitted  beneficiaries  without  regard  to  religious  faith,  and  second, 
because  there  was  a  Presbyterian  minister  on  its  board  of  trustees, — a 
purely  ornamental  body.  On  the  other  hand,  an  institution  having 
among  its  managers  representatives  of  all  the  religious  denominations 
except  one,  is  apt  to  be  regarded  as  "sectarian"  by  that  one.  Many 
institutions  having  no  trace  of  sectarianism  in  charter,  constitution  or 
by-laws,  are  yet  administered  in  the  interest  of  a  sect.  A  willingness 
to  admit  beneficiaries  of  all  denominations  is  frequently  less  an  evidence 


124        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

of  noil -sectarian  ism,  than  of  a  tendency  to  make  proselytes.  Much 
might  be  said  in  favor  of  the  idea  that  all  private  institutions  are  sec- 
tarian, when  not  in  a  religious,  then  in  a  medical  or  a  social  sense. 
Public  aid  to  a  hospital  may  help  to  build  up  a  medical  school  or  a 
school  of  medicine  just  as  surely  as  aid  to  an  infant  asylum  may  be  used 
to  build  up  a  church.  Social  rivalries  may  stimulate  people  in  pushing 
charities  just  as  much  as  inter-denominational  competition. 

In  states  where  a  constitutional  limitation  forbids  the  voting  of  public 
money  to  "sectarian'"'  institutions,  members  of  the  Protestant  denom- 
inations seek  to  have  this  clause  so  interpreted  as  to  exclude  the 
institutions  officered  by  the  Roman  Catholic  orders,  while  charitable 
enterprises  in  Avhich  they  are  themselves  interested  are  nominally  unsec- 
tarian.  The  Catholics  try  to  evade  the  constitutional  limitations  by 
disingenuous  and  unfair  subterfuges,  usually  successful,  and  the  Protest- 
ants with  characteristic  short-sightedness,  encourage  such  a  course  by 
their  own  eagerness  to  secure  public  money  for  the  private  institutions 
in  which  they  are  themselves  interested.  There  is  a  logical  and  manifest 
distinction  between  public  and  private  institutions.  With  the  former, 
the  Government  owns  the  property  and  can  modify  or  abolish  the 
institution  at  will.  In  the  case  of  the  latter,  the  property  is  owned  by 
a  private  corporation,  usually  self-perpetuating,  its  charter  is  a  contract 
with  the  state  that  grants  it,  and  the  fact  that  it  is  a  "private"  institu- 
tion protects  it  in  a  great  measure  from  criticism.  In  Pennsylvania  it 
is  found  that  such  institutions  tend  more  and  more  to  be  managed  by 
a  few  persons  who  really  choose  their  successors,  and  the  state  which 
grants  them  millions  has  not  even  the  membership  vote  of  a  private 
individual,  who  pays  one,  two,  or  three  dollars  annually  as  dues.  Just 
before  the  advent  of  a  Superintendent  of  Charities  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  a  congressional  committeeman  thus  described  the  attitude  of 
the  subsidized  institutions  towards  the  Government: 

"There  is  a  universal  feeling  that  while  Congress  must  furnish  the 
money,  each  society  must  have  absolute  control  of  the  expenditures  and 
none  of  them  are  willing  to  submit  to  any  visitation  or  control  of  such 
expenditures,  or  even  any  auditing  of  the  accounts.  The  beginning  and 
end  of  their  connection  with  Congress  in  their  eyes,  seems  to  be  <Give 
each  one  of  us  so  much  money  and  let  us  do  what  we  please  with  it.'  " 

This  fact,  that  there  is  a  clear-cut  distinction  between  public  and 
private  charities,  but  none  between  sectarian  and  non-sectarian  charities 
is  one  that  those  who  shudder  at  every  symptom  of  public  aid   to  sec- 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  I  25 

tarian  schools  would  do  well  to  recognize.  Protestants  are  willing  to 
tease  legislators  for  public  money  on  behalf  of  a  hospital  or  orphan 
asylum  in  which  they  are  interested,  urging  that  it  is  "doing  good"  and 
that  it  is  preventing  crime  and  pauperism,  and  so  saving  money  to  the 
tax-payers.  They  do  not  see  or  will  not  acknowledge  that  the  same 
could  be  said  of  a  parochial  school,  and  that  the  claim  which  they  set 
up  that  their  own  institution  is  "non-sectarian"  is  equivocal  and  unfair, 
and  one  which  in  practice  the  courts  have  never  been  able  to  make 
definite. 

A  tendency  could  hardly  have  gone  as  far  as  has  that  to  grant  public 
subsidies  to  private  charities,  unless  there  were  in  favor  of  it  many  consid- 
erations of  great  force,  either  apparent  or  real.  As  favoring  this  policy 
the  consideration  which  is  first  and  foremost  in  the  minds  of  practical 
people  is  the  matter  of  economy.  Especially  where  the  number  of 
dependents  in  a  given  class  is  small,  it  is  cheaper  to  have  them  cared  for 
than  to  establish  an  institution  for  them.  This  is  the  reason  that  in 
most  small  towns  a  private  hospital  is  subsidized  and  one  is  not  built  at 
public  expense  ;  but,  of  course,  when  we  find  a  great  city,  like  Brooklyn, 
depending  entirely  on  subsidized  hospitals  for  the  care  of  its  sick  poor, 
this  argument  is  inapplicable.  Economy,  however,  may  result  from 
other  causes,  as  when  the  private  institutions  are  administered  by 
religious  orders,  the  members  of  which  receive  no  pay  except  their  sup- 
port. In  almost  every  branch  of  philanthropic  work,  Roman  Catholic 
institutions  can  underbid  competitors,  so  to  speak,  because  of  the  great 
organizations  of  teachers  and  nurses  and  administrators  whose  gratuitous 
services  they  can  command,  and  if  the  state  is  to  sub-let  its  relief  on  the 
contract  system  it  is  hard  to  see  why  those  who  can  bid  low  should  not 
get  the  contracts.  In  reformatory  institutions,  those  under  private 
management  have  an  advantage  over  those  managed  by  public  officials, 
in  that  the  former  are  able  to  keep  the  inmates  busy  at  remunerative 
employment  with  less  opposition  from  outside  trade  organizations.  A 
public  reformatory  for  girls  that  should  keep  its  inmates  busy  with  work 
from  a  great  shirt  factory,  would  be  sure  to  be  attacked  on  the  ground 
of  its  competing  with  poor  sewing  women ;  but  such  employment  in 
private  institutions,  even  those  receiving  public  subsidies,  is  quite  com- 
mon. Even  in  institutions  not  officered  by  members  of  a  religious  order, 
the  salaries  are  apt  to  be  lower,  and  all  the  items  of  expense  to  be  more 
closely  scrutinized  than  in  a  public  institution.  Add  to  all  this  the 
further  fact,  that  frequently  jjrivate  contributors  aid  in  the  support  of  a 


126        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

private  institution  and  we  see  how  great  may  be  its  advantage  on  the  side 
of  economy.  To  the  real  economies,  of  this  method  of  operation  should 
be  added  the  apparent  economies,  when  a  private  institution  is  willing 
to  make  a  very  low  bid,  to  make  great  temporary  sacrifices,  in  order 
to  get  the  subsidy  system  established — in  order  to  establish  connection 
between  itself  and  the  public  treasury.  "At  first,"  said  a  United 
States  Senator  speaking  of  the  charities  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  "at 
first  they  thrust  in  only  the  nose  of  the  camel." 

Secondly,  it  is  urged  that  private  institutions,  especially  those  for 
dependent  and  delinquent  children,  have  a  better  effect  upon  the  in- 
mates than  can  public  institutions.  For  one  thing,  dogmatic  religious 
instruction  can  be  given.  For  another,  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  that 
pervades  a  private  institution  has  a  good  effect  upon  the  inmates  and  is 
contrasted  with  the  cold  and  officialized  administration  of  the  public 
institutions.  Connected  with  this,  as  also  with  the  matter  of  economy, 
is  the  fact  that  boards  of  trustees  and  of  lady  managers  and  visitors 
give  freely  of  their  time  and  energy  and  sympathy  in  aid  of  private 
undertakings. 

Thirdly,  it  is  urged  that  by  subsidizing  private  institutions  we  free 
them  from  the  blight  of  partisan  politics  and  the  spoils  system.  The 
miserable  political  jobbery  connected  with,  so  many  almshouses  and 
insane  asylums,  and  other  public  charitable  institutions,  is  pointed  out 
and  we  are  asked  to  shield  as  many  as  possible  of  the  state's  dependents 
from  similar  evils.  In  the  matter  of  educating  the  blind  and  the  deaf 
and  the  dumb,  the  private  institutions  managed  by  close  corporations 
or  corporations  of  contributing  members,  are  thought  to  have  been 
more  successful  than  public  institutions  for  similar  purposes.  The 
specialists  needed  to  conduct  them  properly  prefer  to  work  for  a  private 
corporation,  as  their  tenure  is  more  secure,  and  it  is  more  easy  to  map 
out  and  pursue  a  policy  of  steady  development  and  improvement.  At 
the  same  time  it  should  be  said  that  one  of  the  institutions  which  the 
committee  of  the  Pennsylvania  legislature  found  most  secretive  and 
least  well  conducted  was  a  private  school  for  the  blind,  sustained  by 
public  subsidies. 

A  fourth  consideration  is  that  by  means  of  subsidies  we  aid  the  poor 
without  fixing  uj^on  them  the  stigma  of  pauperism.  A  home  for  the 
aged  is  more  respectable  than  an  almshouse,  and  a  private  protectory 
or  industrial  school  is  supposed  not  to  discredit  the  inmates  as  much  as 
does  a  public  reform  school. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  I  27 

But  this  last  mentioned  consideration  brings  us  to  a  turning  point, 
for  it  is  urged  against  such  subsidies,  as  well  as  in  favor  of  them.  It  is 
urged  that  private  institutions  receiving  public  money,  by  disguising 
pauperism  promote  it.  Children  who  would  support  aged  parents 
rather  than  allow  them  to  go  to  the  almshouse,  desert  them  promptly 
when  some  provision  is  made  for  them  that  is  ostensibly  more  honor- 
able. 1  have  in  mind  the  case  of  an  abandoned  woman,  who  supported 
her  mother  for  years  rather  than  permit  her  to  go  to  the  poorhouse,  but 
who  was  trying  all  the  while  to  get  her  admitted  to  a  "private"  home 
for  the  aged.  Parents  unload  their  children  upon  the  community  more 
recklessly  when  they  know  that  such  children  will  be  provided  for  in 
private  orphan  asylums  or  protectories  where  the  religious  training  that 
the  parents  prefer  will  be  given  them.  And  thus  we  reach  the  first 
great  objection  to  granting  public  subsidies  to  private  charities.  While 
it  may  be  cheaper  to  provide  thus  for  each  dependent  during  a  year, 
yet  the  number  of  dependents  increases  so  rapidly,  that  eventually  the 
charge  upon  the  public  is  greater  than  if  the  alternative  policy  were 
pursued. 

The  results  are  most  astounding  where,  as  in  the  case  of  dependent 
children  in  New  York,  the  managers  of  each  institution  are  free  to 
admit  the  children  and  have  them  charged  to  the  community.  The  so- 
called  Children's  Law  was  passed  in  1875,  and  forbade  the  keeping  of 
able-bodied  children  between  the  ages  of  three  and  thirteen  in  a  poor- 
house.  On  this,  its  negative  side,  it  was  beneficial  ;  but  in  providing 
for  the  care  of  dependent  children  in  private  institutions  at  public 
charge,  it  led  to  results  that  have  properly  been  called  portentous. 
These  results,  so  far  as  they  relate  to  New  York  city,  have  been  indi- 
cated. Commenting  upon  them,  the  Hon.  Seth  Low  said  at  the 
National  Conference  of  Charities  and  Correction  in  1888: 

"Nothing  can  be  worse  for  the  children  than  to  be  crowded  in  such 
numbers  into  large  institutions;  and  nothing  can  be  more  unjust  to  the 
tax-payers  of  New  York  than  to  be  obliged  to  assume  the  care  of  such 
armies  of  c:hildren." 

On  the  same  occasion,  speaking  of  the  effect  of  the  "Children's 
Law"  in  Brooklyn,  Mr.  Low  said: 

"In  August,  1875,  there  were  about  three  hundred  children  in  the 
Nursery,  a  branch  of  the  almshouse.  They  were  at  that  time  transferred 
to  sectarian  institutions  and  the  number  of  dependent  children  at  once 
increased  wonderfully.     By  1883  the  number  had  grown  to  1,492.     At 


128        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

the  latter  date  the  Commissioners  of  Charities  and  Correction,  finding 
the  number  increasing  again  unduly,  undertook  a  thorough  inquiry 
into  the  antecedents  of  the  children  supported,  which  resulted  in  the 
discharge  of  two  hundred  and  sixty-five  who  were  not  entitled  to  public 
support.  Among  those,  the  most  flagrant  case  was  that  of  three  children 
who  had  been  maintained  at  public  expense  for  more  than  five  years, 
though  they  owned  $2,100,  of  which  their  mother  drew  the  interest, 
while  she  also  kept  a  shop  in  Jersey  City." 

Where  public  officials  alone  have  the  right  to  commit  children  or 
others  to  the  subsidized  institutions,  a  check  is  put  upon  reckless  admis- 
sions. But  even  under  this  system  there  is  danger  that  many  will  be 
charged  to  the  public  who  would  never  have  sought  admission  to  a  pub- 
lic institution.  In  Illinois  the  constitution  forbids  public  grants  to 
sectarian  institutions,  but  a  law  was  framed  providing  that  a  county  court 
might  adjudge  a  girl  to  be  a  dependent,  commit  her  to  an  industrial 
school,  and  the  school  should  then  be  entitled  to  receive  ten  dollars 
per  month  for  her  ''tuition,  care  and  maintenance"  besides  an  allow- 
ance for  clothing.  After  the  passage  of  this  act  the  Chicago  Industrial 
School  for  Girls  was  incorporated.  Of  the  nine  incorporators  and 
directors,  seven  were  officers  and  managers  of  the  House  of  the  Good 
Shepherd;  and  all  girls  committed  under  the  act  to  the  Chicago  Indus- 
trial School  for  Girls,  were  placed  either  in  the  House  of  the  Good  Shep- 
herd or  in  the  St.  Joseph's  Orphan  Asylum,  both  Catholic  institutions. 
Questions  as  to  the  legality  of  such  arrangements  brought  the.  matter 
into  court,  and  during  the  trial  it  transpired  that  about  seventy-three 
girls  who  were  committed  to  the  Chicago  Industrial  School  for  Girls 
by  the  county  court,  were  already  in  the  House  of  the  Good  Shepherd 
and  the  St.  Joseph's  Orphan  Asylum  at  the  time  of  such  commitments. 
"In  other  words  being  already  inmates  of  the  institutions,  they  were 
taken  to  the  county  court  and  adjudged  to  be  dependent  girls  and  at 
once  returned  to  those  institutions,  and  thereafter  the  county  was 
charged  with  $10.00  per  month  for  tuition  for  each  of  them  and  $15 
or  $20  or  $25  for  clothing  for  each  of  them."* 

In  Maryland  the  juvenile  reformatories  of  rival  faiths  are  so  anxious 
to  secure  inmates  that  the  courts  are  criticised  by  each  side  for  com- 

*The  courts  at  first  decided  that  the  Chicago  Industrial  School  was  a  "sectar- 
ian" institution  and  the  payment  of  the  money  therefore  illegal;  but  the  institu- 
tion has  since  found  a  way  to  evade  the  constitutional  limitation.  This  is  a  very 
good  example  of  the  unsubstantial  nature  of  the  barrier  which  such  a  constitu- 
tional limitation  forms. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  I  29 

mitting  an  unduly  large  number  of  children  to  the  other  institutions.  A 
lobbyist  opposing  a  bill  before  the  New  York  legislature  urged  that  ii 
should  not  pass  because  it  would  reduce  the  number  of  inmates  in  an 
institution  in  which  he  was  interested,  and  which  was  just  building 
large  extensions.  The  anxiety  of  a  doctor  to  fill  up  any  hospital  in 
which  he  is  interested  is  well  known,  and  it  has  been  openly  charged  in 
a  leading  medical  journal  that  the  managers  of  dispensaries  and  hos- 
pitals are  the  beneficiaries  of  the  well  intended  philanthropy  which 
supports  them  rather  than  the  poor  for  whom  they  are  intended.  The 
average  dispensary  makes  no  attempt  to  determine  the  ability  of  an 
applicant  to  pay,  and  the  most  reckless  competition  for  patients  exists 
between  them.  When  the  new  superintendent  of  charities  for  the 
District  of  Columbia  called  at  dispensaries  where  he  was  unknown, 
offers  were  twice  made  to  prescribe  for  him  out  of  hand,  although  he 
made  no  attempt  to  appear  especially  unwell  or  impecunious.  The 
success  of  the  subsidy  system  as  regards  institutions  for  the  education 
of  the  blind  and  the  deaf  and  dumb  seems  to  come  from  the  fact,  that 
in  this  particular  work  the  number  of  possible  beneficiaries  is  strictly 
and  obviously  limited. 

In  the  second  place,  the  argument  from  economy  in  support  of  the 
subsidy  system  is  negatived  by  the  fact  that  under  this  system  there 
must  be  so  many  duplicate  institutions.  In  Maryland,  for  instance, 
there  are  two  reformatories  for  boys  within  a  mile  of  each  other,  and 
two  for  girls,  both  in  Baltimore.  Catholics  manage  one  pair  of  insti- 
tutions and  private  Protestant  corporations  the  other.  Besides  this 
inevitable  line  of  cleavage  between  Protestants  and  Catholics,  there  are 
various  causes  of  institutional  fission  resulting  from  medical  or  social 
sectarianism.  Many  charitable  institutions  have  been  established  less 
from  brotherly  love  than  from  a  quarrel  in  a  board  of  managers  in  an 
older  institution.  This,  together  with  the  influence  of  individual  ambi- 
tions, has  led  especially  to  the  establishment  of  a  great  number  of  cha- 
rities. It  has  been  estimated  that  one-fifth  of  the  inhabitants  of  Phila- 
delphia receive  free  medical  treatment,  and  while  public  subsidies  alone 
do  not  cause  such  a  state  of  things,  they  help  it.  When  the  public 
begins  to  grant  such  favors  it  is  hard  to  draw  a  line.  As  a  United 
States  senator  once  said,  speaking  of  the  situation  in  the  District : 

"The  very  fact  that  Congress  makes  these  appropriations,  has  caused 
to  a  great  degree,  the  multiplication  of  the  organizations.  A  (ew 
people   getting   together  who  are  desirous  of  doing  charitable  work,  or 

9 


130        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS   OF    CHARITIES   AND    CORRECTION. 

Avho  have  discovered  some  special  need,  or  who  are  dissatisfied  with 
some  feature  of  some  existing  institution,  instead  of  adding  to  or  mod- 
ifying such  an  institution,  will  start  a  new  one,  because  they  can  appeal 
directly  to  Congress  for  the  money  necessary  to  begin  it,  and  can  base 
their  claim  on  the  ground  that  they  are  just  as  good  as  some  other 
association  already  on  the  list." 

A  third  reason  for-  objecting   to  the  subsidies  we  are  considering,  is 
that  when  voting  them  the  legislator  must  resist  special  pressure.      He 
has  not  a  clear  cut  question  of  a  given  service  to  be  rendered  balanced 
by  a  given  expenditure,  but    it   becomes  partly  a  question  of  offending 
or  favoring  some  sect  or  nationality.     The  contention  that  the  subsidy 
system  takes  the  charitable  institutions  out  of  politics  seems  to  be  un- 
sound.    On  the  other  hand  it  drags  them  into  politics  in  a  new  and 
unfortunate  way, — in  a  way  that  is  found  in  practice  to  give  great  scope 
to  log-rolling  and    kindred  expedients.     Many  who  will  not  do  any- 
thing else  for  a  charitable  institution  are  willing  to  bully  a  legislator  on 
its  behalf,  though  this  is  probably  not  common.      Most  of  the  lobbyists 
are  sincere  even  to  fanaticism,  but  their  view  of  the  situation  is  terribly 
one-sided.      It   had   come  to  be,  that  when  the   District  of  Columbia 
appropriation  bill  was  under  consideration,  and  in  the  haste  of  the  last 
days  of  the  session,  the  congressional  committee  rooms  would  be  full  of 
the   representatives   of   the   various   charities,   both   men  and    women, 
intent  upon  getting  the  largest  share  possible.     There  was  neither  time 
nor  opportunity  on  the  part  of  the  committee   to  come  to  any  intelli- 
gent conclusion.     Often  those  applicants  most  skilled  or  most  person- 
ally  attractive  were   most  successful,    and   sometimes    the  committees 
were  obliged    to  average  their  gifts.      After  such  a  policy  has  been 
entered   upon  it  cannot  be  altered   without   injury  to   great   vested   in- 
terests, and  without  giving  offence  to  large  and  powerful  constituencies. 

A  fourth  objection  to  the  public  subsidy  system  of  supporting  chari- 
ties is  that  it  tends  to  dry  up  the  sources  of  private  benevolence.  Indi- 
vidual contributors  dislike  to  have  their  mites  lost  in  the  abundance  of 
a  public  appropriation.  Almost  without  exception,  so  far  as  my  inves- 
tigations have  gone,  those  institutions  that  have  received  public  aid  the 
longest  and  most  constantly,  receive  least  from  private  contributors. 
In  looking  up  the  history  of  a  considerable  number  of  institutions  I 
have  "found  that,  after  the  public  became  a  contributor,  private  contri- 
butions fell  off  from  year  to  year,  not  only  relatively,  but  absolutely, 
and  in  some  cases  ceased  altogether. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  13I 

Commissioner  Bolles,  of  Pennsylvania,  says : 

"The  state  by  appropriating  so  generally  is  drying  up  the  interest  of 
individuals  in  organized  charities.  Our  people  have  acquired  great 
wealth,  and  their  sympathies  should  be  cultivated  in  every  possible 
manner.  *  *  *  *  The  state  can  never  do  through  its  long  perfunctory 
arm  acts  of  mercy  with  the  same  degree  of  kindly  interest  as  individ- 
uals, who  live  nearer  the  scene  of  relief,  and  who  have  a  more  distinct 
interest  in  the  sufferers." 

This  brings  us  to  a  fifth  reason  for  objecting  to  the  granting  of  public 
subsidies  to  private  charities.  It  frequently  does  positive  harm  to  a 
charitable  institution,  and  sometimes  wholly  destroys  its  usefulness,  to 
receive  public  money.  An  institution  that  receives  no  public  money  is 
freer  in  all  its  operations  and  is  more  highly  valued  by  those  who  sus- 
tain and  manage  it.  The  beneficiaries  also  feel  differently  toward  their 
benefactors.  When  visiting  one  subsidized  institution  the  request  was 
made,  that  nothing  should  be  said  before  the  inmates  that  would  inform 
them  that  the  institution  received  any  public  money.  T  could  under- 
stand the  wish  and  presume  that  the  inmates  would  work  more  faithfully, 
be  more  grateful  for  favors  received,  and  finally  "  turn  out  better " 
because  they  were  kept  in  ignorance  of  the  fact.  Yet  I  doubt  the  pos- 
sibility or  propriety  of  thus  using  public  money  and  at  the  same  time 
trying  to  conceal  the  fact  of  doing  so.  By  no  hocus-pocus  of  subsidy 
granting  can  we  make  taxation  do  the  work  of  self-sacrifice. 

It  should  be  remarked  that  the  several  states  and  municipalities  have 
entered  upon  this  policy  of  subsidizing  private  charities  without  decid- 
ing to  do  so,  and  even  without  perceiving  that  a  decision  was  called 
for.  Each  request  for  a  subsidy  has  been  treated  as  a  matter  of  admin- 
istrative detail,  involving  no  principle,  and  not  significant  as  a  prece- 
dent. The  resultant  system,  as  it  is  applied  to  the  care  of  dependent 
children  in  New  York  city,  is  about  as  business-like  as  though  the  city 
should  try  to  get  its  streets  paved  by  announcing  that  any  regularly 
incorporated  association  that  should  pave  a  given  number  of  square 
yards  of  street, — location,  time  and  method  to  be  decided  by  itself, — 
should  receive  a  given  amount  from  the  public  treasury.  The  Wash- 
ington system  is  theoretically  looser,  but  practically  not  so  bad.  It  is 
as  though  private  associations  were  allowed  to  do  paving  at  their  own 
discretion,  and  then,  on  coming  to  Congress  and  teasing  with  sufficient 
skill  and  pertinacity,  they  should  be  given  subsidies,  on  the  general 
theory  that  they  were  "doing  good"  and  rendering  "public  service." 


132        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

This  is  subsidy  granting  at  its  worst.  At  its  best,  the  government  must 
attend  to  three  things.  First,  on  behalf  of  the  poor,  as  well  as  the  tax- 
payers, it  must  provide  for  the  thorough  inspection  of  subsidized  insti- 
tutions and  the  systematic  auditing  of  their  accounts.  This  work  can- 
not be  done  by  grand  juries  or  legislative  committees,  or  ex  officio 
inspectors,  who  may  from  time  to  time  thrust  their  inexperienced  noses 
into  matters  which  they  know  nothing  about.  The  work  of  inspection 
must  be  done  by  some  thoroughly  experienced  and  otherwise  suitable 
administrative  officer,  who  is  definitely  responsible  for  the  thoroughness 
of  his  work.  Secondly,  the  State  must  keep  in  the  hands  of  its  own 
officials  the  right  of  deciding  what  persons  shall  be  admitted  to  the 
benefits  for  which  it  pays,  and  how  long  each  person  may  continue  to 
receive  those  benefits.  If  it  pays  for  beds  in  a  hospital,  one  of  its  own 
officials  should  have  entire  control  of  admitting  and  discharging  the 
patients  so  cared  for.  This  is  necessary,  in  order  that  "there  may  be 
some  gauge  of  indigency  and  some  assurance  that  the  gauge  will  be 
used."  Third,  subsidies  should  only  be  granted  on  the  principle  of 
specific  payment  for  specific  work. 

But  even  at  its  best,  and  with  these  safeguards,  the  policy  of  grant- 
ing public  subsidies  to  private  charities  is  one  of  doubtful  expediency. 
There  is  ground  for  thinking  that  if  the  State  is  too  big  and  awkward 
to  do  a  given  work,  it  is  also  too  big  and  awkward  to  decide  properly 
whom  it  shall  subsidize,  in  order  to  get  the  work  done.  All  that  can 
be  said  against  subsidies  in  general  can  be  said  against  this  form  of  sub- 
sidies, and  more,  because  here  we  have  to  deal  with  religious,  medical 
and  social  sectarianism.  As  a  transition  policy  for  growing  communi- 
ties and  for  new  and  developing  varieties  of  benevolent  work,  it  may 
have  its  place,  but  it  should  not  be  entered  on  inadvertently,  for  while 
all  its  advantages  and  economies  are  greatest  at  the  beginning,  the  dis- 
advantages and  dangers  of  it  increase  as  time  goes  on. 


PAPERS 


FROM 


COKTINENTAIv   EUROPEAN    STATES, 


RESPECTING    THE 


Public  and  Private  Relief  of  the  Poor. 


CHARITY   IN   FRANCE    AND    BELGIUM. 

ITS    HISTORY    AND    PRESENT    CONDITION. 

BY    M.     HERBERT'    VALLEROUX,    DOCTEUR     EN     DROIT;     AVOCAT    A    LA    COUR 
d'aPPEL    DE    PARIS;    LAUREAT     DE    l'aCADEMIE    DES    SCIENCES    MORALES 

ET    POLITIQUES. 

[translation.] 

Introduction. 

Charity  in  France  originated  in  private  initiative  and  was  at  first 
practised  only  by  individuals.  This  was  its  condition  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  French  monarchy  until  1789,  with  only  occasional  inter- 
ference of  the  public  authorities  towards  the  end  of  that  period.  In 
1789,  it  passed  entirely  into  the  hands  of  the  government,  which 
deprived  individuals  of  the  right  of  practising  charity  and  reserved  to 
itself  its  full  control  and  management.  This  is  the  second  epoch, 
which  begins  and  ends  with  the  Revolution.  The  third  epoch  begins 
with  the  Consulate,  that  is,  with  the  present  century,  and  continues  to 
the  present  time.  During  this  period  charity  has  been  exercised  both 
by  the  public  authorities  and  by  individuals. 

We  have,  then,  three  distinct  epochs  which  it  is  our  purpose  to  treat 
in  their  order. 

I. 
First  Epoch:  Before  1789. 

Sapiens  non  miserettir :  "the  sage  pities  not,"  says  Seneca.  But 
while  the  wisdom  of  the  pagan  wholly  repelled  the  idea  of  charity,  the 
Christian  religion,  on  the  other  hand,  placed  the  care  of  the  poor  and 
the  sick  among  the  first  duties  of  the  faithful.  The  early  Christians 
also  took  great  care  to  assist  the  unfortunate,  the  infirm,  and  even  mere 
travelers  and  those  who  were  persecuted.  Nor  did  they  limit  themselves 
to  giving  aid  to  the  aged,  and  the  children  and  parents  of  martyrs  who 
were  killed  during  the  persecutions;  they  gave  aid  also  to  pagans, 
and  Julian  the  Apostate  remarks  with  some  bitterness,  that   Christians 


136        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

who  gave  to  poor  .pagans,  whom  their  co-religionists  left  without  assist- 
ance, were  hated  and  persecuted. 

When  Constantine  gave  to  the  Church  external  peace  and  a  legal 
existence,  he  gave  to  charitable  institutions  the  same  right  to  hold 
property  that  was  given  to  the  Church.  From  that  time  endowments 
were  made  by  Christian  believers,  either  while  living  or  by  testament, 
for  the  purpose  of  endowing  hospitals,  almshouses,  orphanages  and 
asylums,  which  had  before  depended  for  their  support  upon  daily  offer- 
ings, and  especially  for  establishing  new  ones. 

These  endowments  were  frequent  during  the  time  of  the  persecutions, 
for  the  Christians  were  always  on  the  point  of  being  put  to  death  and 
did  not  wish  to  have  any  attachments  to  the  world;  and  besides,  they 
formed  a  sort  of  community  after  the  example  of  the  early  Christians 
of  Jerusalem,  where  the  faithful  brought  to  the  Apostles  not  only  their 
income,  but  also  the  price  of  their  lands;  /.  e.,  their  capital,  as  we  see 
in  the  case  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira.  But  when  there  was  no  longer 
any  danger  in  being  a  Christian,  such  offerings  became  gradually  less. 
In  lieu  of  these  constant,  periodical  endowments,  on  which  the  priests 
and  the  poor  subsisted,  there  were  only  small  offerings  or,  sometimes, 
large  and  valuable,  but  irregular  and  uncertain  gifts.  Was  it  not  then 
the  part  of  wisdom  so  to  invest  these  large  gifts  that  the  subsistence  of 
the  poor  or  the  sick  might  be  assured  without  fear  of  any  uncertainty 
in  the  supply  of  the  daily  alms?  And,  indeed,  the  endowments  allowed 
this  to  be  done.  Where  land,  customs  dues  or  certain  seignorial  reve- 
nues were  given  to  a  hospital,  it  was  understood  that  these  funds  were 
in  perpetuity,  and  that  the  revenue  should  be  applied  to  its  support. 
We  have  here  the  origin  of  those  foundations  or  endowments  which 
the  Christian  emperors  authorized,  and  whose  perpetuity  was  secured 
by  their  laws. 

Charitable  work  extended  through  all  parts  of  the  vast  Roman  Em- 
pire as  fast  as  they  became  Christian;  and  when  the  Franks  conquered 
Gaul  and  received  baptism.  Christian  charity  began  to  flourish  there, 
as  is  testified  .by  its  works.  Clovis  and  his  successors  respected  and 
admired  these  beautiful  effects  of  the  Christian  spirit  and  took  pleasure 
in  increasing  the  patrimony  of  the  poor. 

But  it  is  important  to  note  that  what  was  done  by  the  kings,  they 
did  as  individuals  and  as  believers,  and  not  with  the  view  of  having  the 
government  interfere  with  the  exercise  of  charity.  Charity  was  the  out- 
growth of  the  Christian  spirit,  and  only  those  kings  sustained,  directed 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  •  1 37 

and  exercised  it,  who  were  possessed  of  this  spirit.  It  is  true  that  pri- 
vate ahnsgiving  was  common;  that  alms  were  often  given  on  certain  days 
at  the  doors  of  great  personages  or  of  religious  houses;  but  this  form  of 
charity  was  less  efficacious  and  less  commendable.  The  best  system 
of  charity  was  the  founding  of  permanent  establishments,  such  as  hos- 
pitals, either  for  all  classes  of  disease  without  distinction  or  for  particu- 
lar maladies,  old  people's  homes,  foundling  hospitals,  houses  of  refuge, 
travelers'  inns  (jnaisons  hospitalieres  pour  les  voyageurs) — our  night  lodg- 
ing-houses, which  have  existed  from  the  beginning  of  the  middle  ages. 
In  order  to  establish  these  foundations,  the  permission  not  of  the  public 
authorities,  but  of  the  Church,  by  which  alone  charity  was  encouraged, 
was  necessary. 

It  was  the  ecclesiastical  power,  represented  by  the  bishop  of  the  dio- 
cese, which  authorized  these  foundations  and  took  charge  of  the  exe- 
cution of  the  work,  or  inspected  it.  The  discussions  that  arose  relative 
to  the  execution  of  the  will  of  the  founder  or  the  management  of  the 
trustees,  were  taken  before  the  ecclesiastical  tribunals.  The  lay  power 
— the  civil  government,  as  we  say  to-day — did  not  interfere  except  to 
assure  the  full  execution  of  the  will;  that  is,  to  protect  this  property 
like  any  other,  and  in  case  of  need  to  defend  the  decisions  of  the  eccles- 
iastical tribunals.  But  preliminary  permission  did  not  have  to  be 
asked  of  the  lay  power,  nor  did  the  latter  exercise  any  control  over 
these  foundations. 

We  rnay  take  as  an  illustration  the  forms  and  methods  of  charity  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  the  age  of  Saint  Louis.  We  have  no  precise 
figures,  for  we  have  no  statistics,  but  only  a  table  of  the  results  of 
Catholic  charities,  as  exactly  as  they  can  be  traced  by  the  aid  of 
charts  of  the  times  and  of  the  chronicles  and  movements  that  have  been 
handed  down  to  us.  At  that  time  France  was  far  from  having  the  pop- 
ulation that  it  has  to-day.  For  if  the  rural  population  has  remained 
about  the  same  (a  fact  now  well  established  by  a  number  of  excellent 
and  erudite  works),  the  urban  population  was  then  much  less  than  it  is 
now.  Paris,  which  has  now  2,500,000  inhabitants,  had  at  that  time 
only  300,000. 

Towns  with  eight  or  ten  thousand  inhabitants  were  considered  impor- 
tant, while  to-day  there  are  sub-prefectures  with  thirty  or  forty  thousand. 
As  to  wealth,  the  two  periods  are  not  at  all  comparable.  One-half  of 
Paris  was  not  even  laid  out  into  streets  in  the  seventeenth  century;  the 
Queen  of  France,  wife  of  Philip  Augustus,  made  a  triumphal  entry  into 


138        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

the  capital  of  her  kingdom  riding  behind  her  husband  on  the  same 
horse;  and  not  until  the  fourteenth  century  did  the  Queen  possess  a 
carriage,  and  then  it  was  one  which  the  women  of  our  day  would 
certainly  consider  very  uncomfortable.  The  habits  of  life  were  simple 
in  all  respects  and  large  fortunes  were  very  rare. 

But  in  spite  of  this,  there  were  certainly  more  hospitals  in  France  in 
the  thirteenth  century  than  there  are  to-day.  There  were  many  small 
hospitals  on  the  country  estates,  which  have  now  disappeared.  In  some 
departments  there  were  thirty  or  forty  rural  hospitals,  where  now  there 
is  only  one;  they  have  survived  only  in  the  cities.  Leprosy,  then 
common  in  Europe,  excited  the  pity  of  the  faithful,  and  there  were 
not  less  than  two  thousand  lazar-houses  [leproseries)  in  France  wholly 
constructed  and  maintained  by  the  liberality  of  these  faithful  believers; 
while  in  Christendom,  that  is  to  say  in  Occidental  Europe,  there  were 
not  less  than  nineteen  thousand.  Besides  these  hospitals  for  lepers, 
there  were  many  others  for  various  diseases,  and  almost  all  had  a  room 
for  the  reception  of  poor  travelers  at  night. 

We  must  not  think  that  these  hospitals  and  asylums  were  neglected 
or  badly  supported.  This,  indeed,  might  be  true  in  the  case  of  a  few 
among  a  large  number;  but  most  of  them  were  objects  of  the  solicitude  of 
the  faithful,  and  were  maintained  as  well  as  the  simplicity,  or,  one 
might  say  in  view  of  our  modern  ideas  of  comfort,  as  well  as  the  pov- 
erty of  the  times  would  permit.  Some,  indeed,  bore  the  marks  of  lux- 
ury, and  though  few  of  these  still  survive  from  those  remote  times,  one 
may  still  visit  the  hospital  of  Beaune  (a  small  village  of  Burgundy 
between  Paris  and  Lyons),  which  was  built  in  the  fifteenth  century  by 
Nicholas  Rolin,  chancellor  to  the  duke  of  Burgundy.  The  large  ward 
has  the  aspect  of  a  church,  with  its  stained  glass  windows  and  frescoed 
arches;  there  is  none  of  the  depressing  bareness  too  common  in  the 
wards  of  our  hospitals.  The  patients'  beds  were  arranged  along  the 
side  walls  and  enclosed  by  variegated  curtains,  some  specimens  of  the 
design  of  which  have  been  preserved.  At  one  end  of  the  room  a 
movable  partition  opened,  which  permitted  a  view  of  the  resplendent 
and  ornate  altar,  where  mass  was  said  every  morning,  so  that  the  sick, 
even  the  most  infirm,  had  the  unusual  consolation  of  being  able  to 
assist  at  the  holy  sacrifice  on  their  beds.  The  same  arrangement  has 
been  adopted  in  some  modern  hospitals,  but  there  is  surely  no  modern 
hospital  covering  so  large  an  area  or  with  such  immense  wards,  nor  any 
which  has  so   cheerful   and   varied    an  atmosphere.      The   large   ward 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION. 


139 


in  this  hospital  is  vaster  and  more  beautiful  than  any  of  the  halls  in 
the  palace  of  Cluny,  which  was  built  at  the  same  period,  and  still  stands 
in  Paris.  It  seemed  to  the  pious  Christians  of  that  time  that  they  could 
not  do  too  much  for  the  sick;  and  they  always  had  at  heart  the  words 
of  Christ:  "Verily  I  say  unto  you,  inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto 
the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me."  As  the 
palaces  of  princes  at  that  time  partook  of  the  nature  of  hotels,  hospitals 
were  called  Hotels-Dieu,  and  there  may  be  still  seen  upon  some  this 
inscription,  which  was  at  one  time  not  uncommon  :  Christo  in  pauperi- 
bus;  that  is  "To  Christ  in  the  person  of  the  poor." 

There  is  a  street  in  Paris  called  Geoffrey-Marie,  named  after  a  Parisian 
tailor,  Geoffrey,  and  his  wife,  Marie,  who  owned  the  land  where  this 
street  has  since  been  made  and  who  gave  it  in  1260  by  a'deed,  which  is 
still  extant,  to  the  Hotel-Dieu  of  Paris.  In  this  deed  Geoffrey  and 
Marie  stipulate  that  both  shall  be  received  among  the  number  of  the 
confreres,  or  members,  who  take  care  of  the  sick,  and  that  they  shall 
remain  there  during  their  lives.  Thus  they  gave  not  only  their  property, 
but  also  themselves,  as  was  very  common  at  that  time.  This  calls  to 
mind  another  charity  by  which  a  noble  lady  gave  all  of  her  property 
for  a  special  purpose — the  distribution  of  soup  to  the  poor,  {boicillon  des 
pauvres).  She  also  gave  up  her  life  to  preparing  and  distributing  this 
nourishment  to  the  unfortunate. 

In  short,  we  must  not  think  that  these  endowments  had  for  their  sole 
end  the  construction  of  hospitals  and  asylums.  All  sorts  of  chari- 
table works  were  proposed.  For  instance,  endowments  were  made  for 
the  purpose  of  giving  yearly  allowances  to  poor  girls ;  others  for  the 
purpose  of  loaning  grain  without  interest  to  needy  farmers,  either  for 
seed  or  for  food  for  their  families.  Many  endowments  (then  called 
alms)  were  given  for  the  purpose  of  distributing  every  year  to  the  poor 
of  a  parish  a  certain  quantity  of  wheat  or  bread,  but  rarely  money. 
A  very  common  form  of  endowment  at  that  period  was  the  building 
of  a  chapel,  with  a  hospital  and  school  attached.  A  small  salary  was 
sufficient  to  support  a  priest  who  officiated  in  the  chapel,  directed  the 
small  hos])ital  and  instructed  the  children,  for  establishments  of  this 
kind  are  usually  found  in  the  country.  It  was  customary,  indeed,  at 
that  lime  to  combine  three  different  objects:  religion,  education  and 
charity. 

Charitable  associations  were  also  numerous  under  the  name  oi guilds, 
brotherhoods  or  fraternities  [confreries  oti  freries,')  which  included  men 


140        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

and  women  of  all  conditions  of  life,  and  were  usually  co-extensive 
with  a  parish.  Thus  the  King  and  Queen  of  France  belonged  to  the 
guild  or  brotherhood  of.  Our  Lady  at  Paris,  in  which  were  also  found 
citizens  of  the  parish,  both  artisans  and  small  merchants  ;  for  Chris- 
tian charity  effaced  all  distinctions  of  rank  and  class.  The  confreres 
or  members  of  the  brotherhoods  were  no  longer  nobles  or  peasants, 
lords  or  bourgeois;  they  were  confreres  united  for  the  purpose  of  doing 
deeds  of  charity.  They  visited  sick  members,  assisted  at  the  obsequies 
of  the  dead,  caused  masses  to  be  celebrated  for  the  repose  of  their 
souls,  and  also  gave  aid  to  families  that  were  left  in  need.  They 
had  not,  as  in  our  modern  mutual  aid  societies,  fixed  assessments  with 
relief  provided  for  in  advance  at  rates  determined  by  circumstances. 
They  made  their  contributions  during  the  services,  and  in  case  of  need 
an  appeal  was  made  to  the  charity  of  the  confreres,  which  was  always  sure 
of  a  response. 

Some  of  these  associations  were  established  for  special  objects:  to 
watch  with  the  sick,  to  bathe  them,  to  dress  their  wounds,  and  to  bury 
the  dead  and  follow  in  funeral  processions.  They  were  recruited  by 
persons  from  all  ranks  of  life,  and  their  members  visited  all  the  sick 
who  were  known  to  them.  Every  municipal  corporation  had  its 
guilds, — associations  for  religion  and  piety.  But  ordinarily,  though 
not  always,  they  were  confined  to  the  masters  and  workmen  of  a  trade, 
together  with  their  families.  Certain  of  these  confreries  or  guilds 
owned  beds  in  the  hospitals;  the  Parisian  guild,  for  instance,  had 
rooms  in  the  guild  hospital  (Jiotel  dc  la  corporation'),  the  use  of  which 
they  gave  "to  the  aged  poor  of  their  craft  who  had  not  prospered." 
These  poor  people,  being  housed  in  this  way  by  the  members  of  their 
own  profession,  who  saw  that  their  colleagues  had  not  succeeded,  advised 
with  their  confreres  on  matters  pertaining  to  their  trade,  and  did  not 
feel  themselves  despised  or  burdensome ;  they  had  always  belonged 
to  the  guild  and  felt,  so  to  speak,  at  home  there.  To  those  for  whom 
a  gratuitous  lodging  did  not  suffice  some  additional  aid  was  given,  and 
the  giving  of  advice  was  a  very  delicate  way  of  bestowing  charity. 
At  Paris  the  Guild  of  Cooks,  on  the  festival  of  their  patron  saint, 
gave  a  grand  dinner  to  the  poor  inmates  of  the  Hotel-Dieu,  with  the 
purpose  of  giving  these  unfortunates  the  pleasure  of  a  good  repast, 
and  the  master  cooks  themselves  waited  on  the  tables.  The  Bakers' 
Guild  distributed  to  the  indigent  all  bread  that  did  not  come  up  to 
the  standard  weight  fixed  by  the  guild. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  I4I 

There  was,  moreover,  even  outside  of  the  guilds,  an  emulation  in 
deeds  of  charity ;  in  this  way  a  number  of  hospitals  and  asylums  have 
commenced  on  a  small  scale.  Sometimes  a  person  would  take  two  or 
three  poor  invalids  or  orphans  into  his  own  home,  and  later  the  number 
would  insensibly  increase ;  but  it  was  necessary  to  provide  for  their 
future  maintenance;  and  so,  when  the  charitable  founder  died,  leaving 
for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  his  work  all  his  personal  property,  or 
his  house  or  some  small  revenue,  he  would  find  some  good  soul  to 
guarantee  the  continuance  of  the  work,  and,  as  an  old  account  reads, 
"  the  founder,  as  well  as  others,  was  eager  to  leave  his  property  to  it." 
In  this  way  small  gifts  and  many  legacies  were  added  to  the  endow- 
ment, which  together  not  only  assured  the  existence  of  the  work,  but 
even  enabled  it  to  be  enlarged. 

The  management  of  charitable  institutions,  the  distribution  of  alms 
and  the  care  of  the  sick  were  more  especially  functions  of  religious 
communities.  In  the  country  these  communities  became  centers  of 
population,  and  to  the  very  last  continued  to  aid  the  inhabitants  of  the 
neighboring  country;  while  in  the  convents  medical  advice  and  treatment 
were  given,  as  is  still  done  by  our  missionaries  in  countries  where  they 
desire  to  spread  the  gospel.  When,  in  time  of  famine,  recourse  was  had 
to  the  granaries  and  the  reserves  of  the  monasteries,  grain  and  wood 
loaned  to  the  tillers  of  the  soil  was  a  form  of  relief  that  would  have 
been  sought  in  vain  elsewhere,  because  in  many  country  districts  there 
were  no  well-to-do  inhabitants.  When  faith  began  to  grow  weaker, 
and  it  became  difficult  to  find  confreres  to  care  for  the  sick,  the 
Sisters  of  Charity,  established  by  Saint  A^incent  de  Paul,  took  charge 
of  them,  as  well  as  of  abandoned  infants.  That  you  may  see  how  a 
new  religious  order  was  established,  I  will  give  an  example  from  my 
native  city  of  Paris. 

In  the  second  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  an  epoch  of  distress  and 
misery,  due  to  wars  with  the  league  of  Augsburg,  a  Parisian  woman 
of  a  noble  parliamentary  family  and  a  widow  at  the  age  of  sixteen, 
Madame  de  Miramion,  meeting  a  large  number  of  unfortunates  in  the 
streets  of  Paris  whom  the  city  hospital  was  not  able  to  accommodate, 
took  them  to  her  own  home  and  gradually  filled  up  her  house  until  she 
had  about  seven  hundred.  When  her  own  resources  were  exhausted,  she 
went  about  soliciting  contributions  at  the  great  houses  to  which  her 
rank  admitted  her.  She  then  dressed  her  numerous  servants  according 
to  the  fashion   of  the  time  and  told  them  that  she  was  no  longer  able 


142        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

to  pay  them.  The  good  women  requested  their  mistress  to  keep  them 
without  pay,  that  they  might  help  her  to  take  care  of  the  sick  and  share 
with  her  in  the  eternal  reward.  Madame  de  Miramion  then  promised 
them  food  and  clothing,  and  proposed  that  they  should  form  a  religious 
order,  without  waiting  for  the  consecration  of  the  church.  With  this 
consecration  they  received  the  name  of  Daughters  of  St.  Genevieve,  in 
memory  of  St.  Genevieve,  the  patron  saint  of  Paris,  whose  church  was 

A 

near  the  Hotel  de  Miramion;  but  up  to  the  time  of  the  Revolution  the 
people  always  called  them  the  Miramionites;  and  during  all  this  time 
they  did  not  cease  to  care  for  poor  invalids. 

The  number  of  charitable  foundations  diminished  very  fast  in  the  six- 
teenth century  on  account  of  the  religious  wars,  which  put  an  end  to 
many  of  them.  In  the  following  century  Louis  XIV  conceived  the  idea 
of  applying  his  method  of  administrative  centralization  to  charity.  In 
a  certain  number  of  towns  he  built  large  hospitals,  which  he  called 
general  hospitals,  where  all  sorts  of  poor  and  sick  people  were  received: 
sturdy  beggars,  the  infirm,  the  aged,  foundlings,  and  the  insane, — a 
medley  which  could  not  but  yield  poor  results.  And  further,  in  order  to 
assure  to  these  large  houses  sufficient  resources,  he  transferred  to  them 
endowments  given  for  the  rural  poor.  This  was  violating  the  intention  of 
the  founders  and  changing  the  destination  of  their  liberality.  The  rural 
poor,  no  longer  receiving  any,  or  receiving  less  aid,  betook  themselves 
to  the  towns,  where  they  increased  the  indigent  population  already 
there. 

By  degrees  also,  the  royal  authority  replaced  the  ecclesiastical 
in  matters  pertaining  to  charity.  It  had  arrogated  to  itself  the  right 
to  authorize  foundations,  to  approve  of  the  gifts  and  legacies  left  to 
them,  and  to  interfere  in  the  management  of  their  patrimony.  It  also 
took  advantage  of  some  abuses  to  assume  control  over  the  entire  system 
of  charity,  which  had  been  established  and  administered  with  full  free- 
dom up  to  that  time.  This  interference  was  not  at  all  a  happy  one,  for 
under  the  reign  of  Louis  XVI  a  medical  commission,  charged  with 
ascertaining  the  condition  and  needs  of  the  Hotel-Dieu  of  Paris,  made 
a  report  upon  the  bad  condition  and  inconvenient  arrangement  of  the 
hospital,  which  created  a  great  deal  of  excitement  at  the  time,  and 
led  to  numerous  subscriptions  for  renovation  of  the  buildings.  The 
product  of  these  subscriptions,  which  amounted  to  several  millions, 
was  put  into  the  hands  of  the  public  administration,  which  used  it  for 
other  purposes.     Assuredly  the  Hotel-Dieu  of   Paris    was  in    a    worse 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  1 43 

condition  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  under  the  management 
of  the  government,  than  in  the  thirteenth,  when  it  was  entrusted  to 
notable  ecclesiastics  and  citizens  under  the  surveillance  of  the  arch- 
bishop of  Paris;  at  any  rate,  under  the  old  regime  the  sums  given  for 
the  poor  in  the  hospital  did  not  go  into  the  public  treasury,  but  reached 
the  destination  intended  by  the  donors. 

And  yet  the  writers  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century — the 
philosophers  and  makers  of  systems — desired  to  see  relief  committed 
exclusively  to  the  public  authorities.  By  their  extensive  and  much 
admired  writings,  which,  unhappily  for  France,  had  a  great  influence 
over  men  and  shaped  public  opinion,  they  gave  rise  to  two  parties  or 
classes  among  their  contem.poraries.  The  dominant  party  (it  matters 
little  in  what  manner  they  had  obtained  supremacy)  had  all  the  ability 
and  came  to  have  the  widest  authority.  Both  the  souls  and  the  bodies 
of  men  became  subject  to  their  discretion.  It  was  their  purpose  to 
shape  the  soul  by  an  education  imposed  upon  it  from  without ;  and 
by  the  system  of  government  which  they  hoped  to  organize,  they  would 
be  masters  of  the  body,  distributing  relief  and  even  labor.  It  only 
remained  to  them  to  follow,  in  the  organization  of  education  and  of 
the  government,  the  plans  and  ideas  of  the  system-mongers  (^faiseurs), 
at  that  time  all  the  fashion.  As  to  the  other  class  of  citizens — those 
who  were  governed — they  had  neither  the  right  of  opinion  nor  of  organ- 
ization, nor  indeed  of  finding  out  what  such  rights  meant ;  they  were 
regarded  as  incapable  of  doing  good,  and  so  were  not  allowed  to  prac- 
tise charity. 

The  national  assemblies  of  the  Revolution  were  charged  with  putting 
into  practice  these  dangerous  and  false  ideas. 

II. 

Second  Epoch:   The  Revolution. 

The  Constituent  Assembly,  which  was  the  first  of  the  revolutionary 
assemblies,  had  been  in  session  only  about  a  month,  when  it  decreed  the 
seizure  of  ecclesiastical  property,  that  is  to  say,  the  foundations  or  endow- 
ments made  for  promoting  religious  worship  and  for  giving  a  patrimony 
to  convents,  (November,  1789).  This  was  a  great  blow  to  charity; 
for  a  part  of  the  ecclesiastical  patrimony  was  used  for  charitable  pur- 
poses, and  numerous  charitable  institutions  found  themselves  without 
any,  or  with  greatly  diminished   resources.     A   committee  of  the  As- 


144        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

sembly  under  the  name  of  a  committee  on  vagrancy,  because  this  was 
one  of  its  objects,  charged  with  studying  the  question  of  charity,  esti- 
mated that  hospitals  and  asylums  alone  had  thus  lost,  by  a  mea- 
sure that  was  not  indeed  directed  against  them,  but  which  nevertheless 
affected  them,  more  than  a  third  of  their  income — 10,330,000  livres 
out  of  29,074,000  ($1,911,050  out  of  $5,378,690).  But  they  took 
account  of  only  the  money  value  of  the  loss,  and  were  unable  to  esti- 
mate the  damage  done  to  the  poor,  especially  those  in  the  country, 
who  were  left  without  assistance  by  the  suppression  of  the  convents. 
A  physician  of  Bourg,  Doctor  Ebrard,  who  not  many  years  ago  wrote 
a  history  of  charity  in  Bourg,  has  told  us  that  there  are  poor  people 
still  living,  who  recall  with  regret  the  time  when  they  were  permitted  to 
gather  fagots  in  the  forests  belonging  to  the  Carthusian  friars.  These 
forests  have  been  seized  by  the  State  and  are  no  longer  open  ;  and  the 
poor  unfortunates,  pursued  by  the  state  foresters  for  doing  what  was 
formerly  permitted  to  their  ancestors,  exclaim  :  "Ah!  the  Carthusians 
were  far  better  friends  of  the  poor ! ' ' 

And  so  the  Assembly  received  a  large  number  of  petitions,  emanat- 
ing from  the  poor  of  different  cantons,  who  protested  against  the  confis- 
cation of  property  to  which  they  thought  that  they  had  some  title.  But 
transported  by  its  own  passion  and  love  of  theories,  it  refused  to  take 
any  notice  of  them. 

Another  body,  the  National  Convention,  completed  the  ruin  of 
charitable  institutions  by  seizing  what  property  still  remained  to  them, 
that  is,  the  hospitals,  asylums,  and  other  establishments  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  poor  and  sick.  The  numerous  fraternities  or  guilds,  even 
those  composed  of  the  laity,  were  dissolved. 

"At  Besan9on,"  says  M.  Sauray,  a  historian  of  that  town,  "there 
were  more  than  forty  guilds,  embracing  all  classes  of  society.  In  vain 
did  they  plead  for  liberty;  one  could  wish  it  had  been  for  their  faith, 
and  still  more  for  their  property.  They  were  despoiled  of  their  rents, 
their  credits  and  the  silver  used  in  their  religious  services,  though  many 
guilds  had  nothing  to  surrender  to  the  rapacity  of  the  Revolution  but 
the  draperies  used  at  the  funerals  of  their  dead  members." 

The  guilds  had  all  been  dissolved  and  their  property  seized  under 
Louis  XVI  through  the  efforts  of  Turgot,  a  writer  and  statesman  of 
that  period.  The  Convention  proscribed  even  the  religious  orders 
which  had  for  many  centuries  cared  for  the  sick. 

"Because,"  says  the  Decretal  issued  at  that  time,  "  in  a  truly  free 
state  no  corporation  ought  to  be  allowed  to  exist,  not  even  such  as  by 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  I  45 

the   care  of  the   sick  and   the  education  of  children,  deserve  well  of 
their  country." 

The  state  was  now  proprietor  of  all  the  patrimony  of  charitable  insti- 
tutions, which  had  been  increasing  for  centuries  through  the  liberality 
of  devout  Christians.  In  order  to  prevent  the  creation  of  new  endow- 
ments and  the  exercise  of  private  charity,  it  was  forbidden  to  give  alms; 
this  was  made  a  crime,  and  the  laws  of  the  Revolution  punished  those 
who  gave  their  property  to  the  poor,  just  as  in  a  well  regulated  state 
the  law  punishes  those  who  take  the  property  of  another.  Charity 
became  a  monopoly,  which  the  government  meant  to  reserve  to  itself, 
and  in  doing  so  it  exceeded  its  just  rights  and  functions. 

It  is  not  possible,  and  it  wou^d  be  of  little  interest,  to  give  an  account 
here  of  the  different  schemes  organized  by  the  members  of  the  various 
assemblies  of  that  period  for  the  purpose  of  having  charity  distributed 
by  the  State.  Sometimes  they  would  conceive  some  such  idea  as  a 
"board  of  public  relief,"  which  would  produce  a  uniform  distribution 
of  relief  by  departments  or  districts,  according  to  the  classes  of  un- 
fortunates; sometimes  they  would  invent  new  forms  of  organization. 
But  it  is  worthy  of  note  and  remembrance  that  none  of  these  beautiful 
conceptions  were  ever  put  into  practice.  Instead,  they  took  away  from 
the  unfortunates  the  property  whose  revenues  had  served  to  give  them 
relief,  and  in  its  place  they  gave  them  laws,  decretals,  and  discourses. 
And  they  never  received  anything  else  from  the  revolutionary  govern- 
ments. 

It  had  been  repeatedly  said  that  the  property  devoted  to  charitable 
purposes  and  administered  by  individuals  was  badly  managed ;  that 
the  revenues  were  poorly  employed,  and  that  the  government  would  do 
better  to  take  the  administration  of  charity  into  its  own  hands.  But 
when  charity  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  State,  it  almost  entirely 
ceased ;  the  poor  were  no  longer  helped,  the  sick  were  no  longer  cared 
for — everything  was  given  over  to  pillage. 

"  At  the  hospital  at  Blain  on  the  Lower  Loire,"  writes  M.  Leon  Maitre, 
keeper  of  the  records  of  the  department,  "the  Sisters  were  driven  out, 
their  real  estate  sold,  their  furniture  broken  to  pieces,  the  linen  and 
medicines  stolen,  and  the  empty  apartments  were  occupied  by  persons 
who  live  there  without  authority  or  opposition." 

Of  the   thirty-four  hospitals  which  existed  in  Paris  in  1789,  fourteen 
were  obliged  to  close,  and  the  others  were  in  the  most  wretched  condi- 
tion.     Their    revenue,    which    before    the    Revolution    was    7,100,000 
10 


146        INTERNATIONAL    CONCxRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

livres,  (51,313,500),  did  not  now  amount  to  more  than  900,000  livres, 
(5 1 66,5 go).  And  with  the  government  paying  in  assignats  which  no 
one  would  any  longer  receive,  we  can  imagine  the  part  played  by  the 
administrators  of  the  hospitals  which  were  still  open,  from  the  long- 
continued  cries  of  distress,  traces  of  which  our  archives  reveal  in  letters 
filled  with  supplications  and  woe.  The  people  of  Bordeaux  write  that 
their  resources  are  all  gone,  their  food  bills  unpaid,  and  that  being  on 
the  verge  of  bankruptcy,  they  are  in  despair. 

"Laborers  support  themselves  and  share  their  bread  with  the  poor; 
but  this  condition  of  things  cannot  long  endure,  and  the  people  of  Bor- 
deaux are  already  inquiring  how  it  is  that  asylums  are  no  longer 
provided." 

The  municipality  of  Bayeux  writes: 

"The  hospitals  have  in  them  only  living  skeletons,  who  are  ready  to 
succumb  more  from  actual  want  than  from  natural  infirmity." 

The  administrators  of  the  hospital  at  Mauriac  in  the  department  of 
of  Cantal,  write  to  the  Convention  : 

"  Come  quickly  to  the  aid  of  our  orphans  ;  would  you  have  us  adopt 
them  in  the  name  of  our  country,  only  to  leave  them  to  perish  from 
hunger  and  want?  Allowances  for  the  past  thirty-five  months  are  still 
due  to  them  and  their  nurses." 

Still  others  dared  to  write,  even  at  a  time  when  free  speech  was  at 
the  risk  of  death  : 

"The  asylums  of  the  Republic  are  no  longer  places  of  refuge 
opened  by  charity  to  the  needy,  but  asylums  for  the  dead." 

Were  these  complaints  exaggerated?  The  Directory,  the  last  of  the 
governments  of  the  Revolutionary  period,  sent  councillors  of  state  into 
different  parts  of  France  to  ascertain  the  real  condition  of  the  country. 
We  have  the  reports  made  by  them  to  the  government  on  their  return, 
and  assuredly,  as  officers  of  the  government,  they  were  naturally  dis- 
posed to  present  the  situation  in  an  advantageous  light;  but  what  they 
say  of  the  condition  of  the  hospitals  is  the  severest  that  has  been  said. 

Councillor  Fourcroy,  who  visited  the  West  of  France,  states  that  the 
wages  of  nurses  were  everywhere  overdue,  and  the  State  did  not  pay 
them.  In  the  department  of  Manche  the  arrears  exceed  539,000  livres, 
($99,550),  which  to-day  would  amount  to  three  or  four  times  that  sum. 
In  the  department  of  Calvados,  of  1,102,000  livres  ($203,870)  which 
were  due,  only  27,000  livres  ($4,995)  were  paid. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  I47 

As  to  the  hospitals: 

"They  have  become  the  abodes  of  the  most  frightful  want;  misery 
and  sickness  find  in  them  but  little  relief.  Everywhere,  except  at 
Rouen,  the  sick  have  no  linen,  or  only  torn  and  ragged  pieces,  and 
their  beds  have  no  coverings.  The  old  people's  and  children's  homes 
are  in  the  same  distressing  condition." 

Francis  of  Nantes  traveled   over  the  middle  of  France.      He  writes: 

"The  charitable  institutions  (hospices)  continue  to  be  in  a  pitiable 
state,  and  it  is  necessary  that  we  should  begin  by  giving  them  an  assured 
income.  At  Toulon  many  invalids  are  put  to  bed  without  any  cover- 
ings and  without  any  straw  in  the  mattresses.  In  the  old  people's  home 
only  a  pound  of  bread  is  given  per  day,  with  some  boiled  beans,  but 
without  wine  or  meat." 

He  saw  a  woman  on  whom  an  operation  had  been  performed,  whose 
only  restorative  was  a  dozen  beans. 

"At  Marseilles,  out  of  six  hundred  and  eighteen  foundlings  in  the 
foundling  hospital,  only  seventy-eight  survived.  At  Toulon,  of  one 
hundred  and  four  infants,  only  three  survived;  I  have  also  seen  in  these 
hospitals  four  children  in  every  cradle.  They  are  wrinkled  and  present 
the  appearance  of  premature  decrepitude." 

In  the  country  the  poor  were  wholly  without  aid;  the  institutions 
founded  to  give  them  assistance  were  seized  and  nothing  else  put  in 
their  place,  and  thus  their  misery  was  extreme.  Councillor  Redon, 
who  was  sent  into  the  East  of  France,  stated  that  "mendicity  has 
increased  very  much  on  account  of  the  troubles  of  the  Revolution," 
and  he  might  have  added,  because  it  had  suppressed  the  means  of  giv- 
ing relief.  The  administrator  of  the  Department  of  the  South  com- 
plained loudly  of  the  want  of  the  inhabitants:  "There  is  not  a 
winter  in  which  there  is  not  death  by  starvation." 

In  the  presence  of  so  much  destitution  and  suffering,  many  of  the 
councillors  who  were  sent  on  tours  of  inspection  declared  that,  since 
the  government  was  powerless,  the  remedy  must  be  found  in  permitting 
individuals  to  practise  charity,  and  even  to  establish  foundations  as 
formerly;  and  especially  in  allowing  the  Sisters  of  Charity  to  return 
to  the  hospitals,  that  they  might  care  for  the  sick. 

The  Directory  carried  out  only  one  part  of  these  propositions.  It  gave 
back  to  the  hospitals  and  other  charitable  institutions  that  part  of  their 
property  which  had  been  taken  from  them  and  had  not  yet  been  sold, 
that  is,  about  two-fifths;  and  it  promised  further,  that  it  would  replace 
the  property  sold  by  other  property  of   ecjual   value  which  had   been 


148        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

taken  from  churches,  convents,  exiles  and  emigrants,  and  those  con- 
demned to  death  by  the  Revolutionary  tribunals.  Singular  justice  which 
used  one  spoliation  to  compensate  another,  and  which,  in  the  end,  never 
gave  back  to  the  hospitals  what  they  had  lost !  The  Directory,  more- 
over, was  overthrown  on  the  second  Brumaire  (December  2,  1799)  by 
General  Bonaparte,  who,  first  under  the  name  of  Consul  and  then 
under  the  name  of  Emperor,  reorganized  France  and  gave  it  the  form 
in  which  we  find  it  to-day.  We  thus  come  to  the  third  and  most 
important  epoch — the  present  situation. 

III. 
Third  Epoch:    The  Present  Situation. 

Napoleon  I,  exaggerating  the  tendency  of  the  old  royal  government 
to  interfere,  took  everything  into  his  own  hands,  leaving  as  little  as 
possible  to  individual  initiative,  and  he  did  the  same  with  charity  as 
with  everything  else.  The  governments  that  have  followed,  although 
differing  in  name  and  representing  different  ideas,  have  all  held  to 
the  same  tradition.  They  have  shown  themselves  strong  partisans  of 
the  prerogative  of  the  state  and  enemies  of  the  liberty  of  the  individ,ual; 
so  that  the  powers  of  the  government  have  been  increased  and  extended, 
with  more  or  less  readiness  of  application,  according  to  the  times.  But 
it  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  present  government — that  of  the  Republic 
— leaves  far  less  personal  liberty  to  its  citizens  than  did  the  government 
of  Louis  XIV,  who  is  still  regarded  as  the  model  of  absolute  kings.  The 
French  of  to-day  have  indeed  the  right,  which  they  did  not  then  enjoy, 
of  electing  a  parliament.  But  the  government,  chosen  in  this  way  by 
a  majority  acting  more  or  less  under  instructions,  has  more  power  than 
any  of  the  old  royal  governments  ever  had;  it  penetrates  more  into 
the  private  life  of  citizens  and,  indeed,  puts  more  constraint  upon  them. 
Proof  of  this  may  be  found  in  that  which  forms  the  subject  of  this  paper, 
/.  e.,  charity. 

The  ancient  patrimony  of  charities,  the  gift  of  individuals,  as  we 
have  seen,  is  now  managed  by  the  government,  which,  moreover,  has 
organized  different  methods  of  rendering  aid,  its  design  being  to 
make  an  administrative  matter  of  charity;  but  on  the  othef  hand,  as 
the  provisions  of  the  laws  of  the  Revolution  forbidding  private  charity 
have  fallen  into  disuse,  private  associations  have  also  been  formed,  so 
that  we  have  in  France  to-day  administrative  charity,  or  public  assist- 
ance,  and    private   charity.     (The   official   name    assistance    has    been 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  1 49 

applied  to  the  former  because  the  term  charity  recalls  a  Christian  virtue 
which  is  displeasing  to  a  government  composed  of  irreligious  men).  Of 
these  two  forms  of  charity  we  will  now  speak. 

§  I.     Public  Assistance. 

The  amount  expended  for  this  object  does  not  form  a  separate  item 
in  the  government's  budget.  There  is  no  budget  of  "assistance"  as 
there  is  of  public  instruction;  in  short  the  funds  are  supplied  partly  by 
the  State,  that  is  to  say  from  the  budget  of  France,  and  partly  by  the 
departments  or  communes,  while  still  another  part  comes  from  the 
revenue  derived  from  the  capital  belonging  to  the  charitable  institu- 
tions; and  finally,  the  remainder  is  furnished  by  private  alms.  Thus 
the  budget  of  "public  assistance"  is  supplied  from  three  sources:  (i) 
taxation;  (2)  revenue  derived  from  the  property  owned  by  charitable 
establishments  and  given  by  the  liberality  of  individuals — a  liberality 
in  part  recent,  but  chiefly  ancient,  some  of  the  property  having  been 
given  as  early  as  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries;  and  (3)  alms 
given  annually  by  the  faithful  for  public  assistance,  in  order  that  they 
may  be  well  employed. 

The  total  budget  for  "public  assistance"  for  1889,  according  to  a 
report  made  to  the  minister  of  the  interior  in  1888  by  M.  Monod, 
director  of  the  Department  of  Public  Assistance,  (the  latest  figures 
leceived),  was  about  189,000,000  livres  (§34,965,000).  Of  these  189 
millions  the  State,  that  is,  the  central  government,  furnished  seven  and 
a  half  millions  (§1,387,500).  The  remainder  was  furnished  by  the 
departments  and  communes,  or  by  private  charity,  but  in  what  propor- 
tion was  not  indicated.  All  that  is  shown  is,  that  in  1889  the  revenue 
from  the  institutions  themselves  increased  to  almost  47,000,000  francs 
{$9,400,000).  There  are  no  reliable  and  recent  figures  except  for  Paris, 
which  on  account  of  its  importance  has  a  separate  administration. 
There  the  budget  for  "public  assistance"  for  1892,  (for  hospitals 
and  asylums  only),  was  44,201,000  francs  (§8,840,200),  of  which 
19,339,000  francs  (§3,867,800)  were  voted  directly  by  the  department 
or  the  municipality,  and  about  4,000,000  francs  (§800,000)  came  from 
the  collection  of  certain  taxes  given  over  to  the  hospitals;  in  other  words, 
of  the  total  amount,  almost  23  millions  and  a  half  (nearly  §4,700,000), 
or  more  than  half  of  the  whole,  was  fur;iished  by  the  tax-payers,  which 
represents  a  charge  of  more  than  ten  francs  on  every  inhabitant,  includ- 
ing indigents.     If  we  consider,  further,  that  from  this  number  should 


150         INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

also  be  deducted  children,  domestics,  etc.,  we  find  that  every  head  of  a 
Parisian  family,  excluding  indigents,  pays  an  average  tax  of  fifty  or 
sixty  francs  merely  for  obligatory  public  assistance.  The  burden  on 
the  inhabitants  of  the  rest  of  France  is,  indeed,  much  less,  being, 
according  to  M.  Monod,  only  i  fr.  60  centimes  (35  cents)  per  inhabi- 
tant. We  shall  see  below  the  reason  for  this  enormous  difference 
between  the  expenditure  in  Paris  and  that  in  the  other  departments  for 
the  same  object. 

It  is  important  to  bear  in  mind  that  in  France  relief  is  not  obligatory 
on  the  public  authorities.  The  right  to  ask  and  receive  aid,  which 
exists  in  other  countries  has  no  place  in  our  legislation;  no  commune 
can  be  compelled  to  give  relief  to  its  poor.  It  relieves  them  according 
to  the  means  at  its  disposal,  and  in  many  communes,  especially  those 
in  the  country,  their  means  are  extremely  small  or  even  nil ;  but  no 
constraint  can  be  put  upon  the  commune.  The  law  requires  only  that 
the  departments  shall  maintain  asylums  for  the  insane  and  for  aban- 
doned infants.  As  to  the  insane,  it  is  a  measure  of  public  order,  for  it 
would  be  dangerous  to  leave  them  at  liberty.  As  to  the  foundlings,  an 
ancient  custom  made  them  a  charge  on  the  lord  of  the  place  where  they 
were  found,  and  his  duty  has  passed  to  the  modern  public  authorities. 
But  what  are  the  means  at  the  disposal  of  the  Department  of  Public 
Assistance  for  giving  aid  to  unfortunates? 

We  have  hitherto  spoken  of  hospitals  and  asylums  (hospices).  There 
is  this  difference  between  the  two  terms  :  hospitals  are  intended  for  the 
sick,  and  their  inmates  are  continually  changing;  while  asylums  are 
intended  for  the  aged,  for  foundlings,  or  for  various  kinds  of  infirm 
persons — the  blind,  the  incurable,  etc. — who,  when  once  received  into 
an  asylum  or  home,  remain  there  either  for  a  very  long  time  (as  the 
foundlings)  or  for  their  whole  life  (as  old  persons  and  incurables).  In 
small  communities  there  are  hospital-homes  [hopitaux-hospices)  which 
receive  the  sick  and  foundlings,  the  aged  and  infirm,  and  sometimes  the 
insane. 

In  large  establishments  the  different  classes  of  poor  were  carefully 
separated  from  one  another;  but  in  others  not  so  much  care  was 
exercised.  The  legislators  of  the  Revolution,  who  had  strange  ideas 
about  everything,  prescribed  this  confused  rule:  that  "the  old  shall 
give  the  children  lessons  in  civic  duty  (civisme)  and  virtue."  As  the 
homes  contain  vagabonds  and  beggars  by  profession,  besides  the  honest 
p)eople  who  have  fallen  into  distress  without  any  fault  of  their  own. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  15  I 

we  cannot  help  thinking  that  they  would  give  to  the  children  very 
injurious  lessons;  that  they  would  teach  them  to  deceive  the  public  and 
feign  infirmity,  so  as  to  live  without  work,  rather  than  to  engage  in 
labor  and  to  practise  virtue.  In  practice,  however,  separation  between 
the  different  classes  of  the  inmates  of  homes  is  the  rule. 

The  number  of  hospitals  and  homes  in  1889  (the  last  official  figures) 
was  1,639 — 308  hospitals,  882  hospital-homes,  and  449  homes.  In 
1789  the  nurtiber  was  larger,  for  the  Committee  on  Vagrancy  reported 
2,188  in  179Q,  and  added  that  they  had  not  been  able  to  get  a  com- 
plete account.  But  although  these  establishments  were  more  numerous 
than  are  those  of  to-day,  their  capacity  was  probably  less.  But  we 
have  no  precise  figures.  There  were  then  many  small  hospitals  scat- 
tered about  in  many  places ;  to-day  the  tendency  is  to  build  large 
hospitals,  and  these  only  in  cities.  It  is  said  that  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century  there  were  fewer  hospitals  and  homes  in  the  coun- 
try than  in  the  thirteenth,  and  that  most  of  those  that  still  existed 
in  1789  have  now  disappeared.  We  must  not  forget,  however,  that 
about  one  half  of  the  hospitals  and  homes  disappeared  during  the  Rev- 
olution ;  those  that  hav'e  been  erected  since  are  almost  all  in  cities. 
Indeed,  of  the  many  hundreds  that  have  been  built  since  that  epoch, 
certainly  not  more  than  ten  have  been  erected  in  the  country.  It 
is  then  quite  correct  to  say  that  the  sick  in  the  country  have  less 
care  than  they  had  one  hundred  years  ago,  and,  above  all,  less  than 
they  had  in  the  middle  ages.  At  present  the  sick  in  the  country 
who  must  be  cared  for,  either  because  they  have  no  family  or  because 
of  the  gravity  of  their  disease,  contagious  disease  for  example,  have 
to  be  transported  to  the  nearest  city,  which  perchance  is  far  away;  and 
further,  the  administrators  of  the  urban  hospital  often  refuse  them, 
because  they  are  not  obliged  to  receive  invalids  from  outside  of  the 
city.  Strictly  they  can  receive  only  persons  of  means,  unless  the  com- 
mune from  which  the  patient  comes  pays  for  him  ;  and  in  that  case  it 
is  necessary,  before  transporting  the  sick,  to  call  together  the  municipal 
council  in  order  to  vote  the  expense;  and  what  becomes  of  the  invalid 
in  the  meantime  ? 

In  1889  there  were  in  all  the  hospitals  and  homes  together  [Ics 
etablissements  hospitallers)  180,473  beds,  to  wit :  78,497  beds  for  the 
sick,  (of  which,  however,  13,293  were  exclusively  for  the  use  of  the 
army);  60,800  for  the  infirm,  the  aged  and  the  incurable;  14,921  for 
assisted  children;  and  finally  29,694  for  the  personnel  of  the   hospitals 


15.2         INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

and  homes.  The  last  figure  may  seem  very  high,  but  we  must  consider 
that  the  number  of  persons  employed  was  30,579,  viz.:  2,976  physi- 
cians and  surgeons,  2,931  employees,  11,199  nuns  (j-eligieuses,)  and 
13,199  servants.  The  cost  of  this  service  was  more  than  eighteen  per 
cent,  of  the  total  expenditure,  and  this  proportion  has  a  tendency  to 
increase. 

The  hospitals  and  homes,  however,  are  very  unequally  distributed  and 
very  unequally  endowed.  In  some  establishments  there  ar&  empty  beds  ; 
in  others  there  are  not  enough.  Some  establishments  are  richly  endowed; 
for  example,  the  hospital  at  Vichy,  which  has  the  right,  by  an  old  royal 
ordinance,  to  collect  a  tax  of  five  centimes  (about  one  cent)  for  every 
bottle  of  mineral  water  obtained  there,  has  a  large  income.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  are  hospitals  whose  only  resources  are  the  revenues 
from  endowments  made  centuries  ago,  and,  as  the  value  of  money  has 
diminished,  they  are  not  able  to  maintain  themselves  except  by  subsi- 
dies from  the  communes. 

In  fine,  it  is  remarkable,  in  view  of  the  new  establishments,  to  see  the 
old  hospitals  and  homes  remain  what  they  were.  Thus  at  Paris,  the 
Quinze-Vingts  established  by  St.  Louis  in  the  thirteenth  century  for  three 
hundred — fifteen  [quinze)  times  twenty  (z'/;/^/) — blind  persons  still  exists, 
but  having  the  same  capacity  as  formerly,  it  never  receives  more  than 
three  hundred  Parisians,  though  the  population  of  France  and  the  num- 
ber of  the  blind  have  largely  increased  during  six  and  a  half  centuries. 
One  reason  for  the  largely  increased  cost  of  service  in  the  hospitals 
of  Paris  is  a  measure  adopted  by  the  administration  at  the  demand 
of  the  municipal  council,  which,  in  view  of  the  large  population  of 
the  capital  and  the  great  abundance  of  poor,  who  come  there  from 
all  directions,  was  fatal — I  mean  the  laicisation  (exchanging  nuns  for 
lay  service)  of  the  personnel  of  the  hospitals,  homes  and  asylums. 

The  care  of  the  sick  in  the  hospitals  had  been  assigned  to  the  Sisters 
of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  and  physicians  and  patients  alike  were  in  accord 
in  admiration  of  their  zeal,  their  ability  and  their  devotion.  But  the 
municipal  council  of  Paris,  by  a  very  large  majority,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Masonic  lodges,  resolved  to  exclude  from  the  hospitals  all 
who  had  a  religious  vocation,  as  it  had  already  done  in  the  case  of  the 
schools. 

It  demanded  of  the  government,  on  which  the  hospitals  depend  (for 
though  the  municipalities  vote  funds  for  these  establishments,  they  have 
no  control  over  them),  that  it  should  expel  first  the  chaplains,  then  the 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  153 

sisters;  and  the  government,  desiring  to  please  the  municipality  whose 
suffrages  it  sought,  consented.  The  first  to  be  expelled  were  the  chap- 
lains, or  priests,  who  gave  consolation  to  the  sick  at  the  moment  of 
death,  or  during  their  illness,  and  then  a  very  complicated  rule  of  pro- 
cedure was  established  for  all  the  sick  who  should  desire  to  have  the 
consolations  of  religion, — a  rule  of  such  a  nature  that  to-day  a  large 
number  of  the  invalid  poor  die  without  having  been  able  to  reconcile 
themselves  with  God,  and  without  hearing  any  one  speak  of  Him  or  of 
their  eternal  salvation. 

Finally  the  Department  of  Public  Assistance,  always  ready  to  favor 
men  who  are  without  religion,  drove  out  the  sisters  from  the  different 
hospitals  and  homes.  The  physicians  of  these  hospitals,  although 
beholden  to  a  certain  extent  to  the  administration,  complained  loudly 
in  the  interests  of  the  sick  ;  they  circulated  a  petition  which  was  signed 
by  doctors,  both  the  religious  and  those  of  the  most  diverse  opinions. 
All  the  signers,  even  Protestants,  Jews  and  free-thinkers,  said  that  the 
Sisters  of  Charity  were  invaluable  on  account  of  their  experience,  their 
absolute  devotion  and  their  disinterestedness,  qualities  rarely  found 
among  paid  employees.  Their  complaint  was  no  more  listened  to 
than  was  that  of  the  sick,  and  to-day  there  are  incompetent  persons  of 
both  sexes  paid  for  doing  service  in  the  hospitals. 

One  of  the  first  results  of  this  system  is  much  slackness  in  the  care 
and  watching  of  the  sick,  and  there  are  numerous  complaints  from  the 
patients,  who  are  well  cared  for  only  if  they  are  able  to  fee  their  nurses. 
And  the  latter  are  sometimes  even  negligent  and  cruel.  They  have 
cost  the  lives  of  many  patients  and  caused  a  greatly  increased  expen- 
diture. 

Doctor  Despres,  physician  of  the  Charity  Hospital  and  a  free-thinker, 
wrote : 

"A  nun  receives  no  pay;  the  government  gives  to  the  superior  of  the 
hospital  200  francs  (S40)  for  every  sister,  which  is  called  their  cloth- 
ing expense  {le  vesiiaire,^  and  serves  to  supply  them  with  shoes,  under- 
wear, stockings  and  clothing.  A  lay  nurse,  including  her  dress, 
costs  700  francs  ($140)  per  year,  and  besides  she  is  given  food  and 
a  separate  lodging."  (He  says  elsewhere  that  they  often  get  something 
from  the  parents  and  friends  of  those  whom  they  nurse,  at  the  expense 
of  the  hospital.)  "You  will  get  abetter  idea  of  the  cost,  when  you  learn 
that  the  laicisation  of  the  Cochin  hospital  has  cost  138,000  francs 
($27,600)  in  capital  and  18,000  francs  ($3,600)  in  revenue;  that  is  to 
say,  a  sum  of  money  with  which  a  hospital  could  be  built  and  twenty 
patients  supported.     Yet  this  is  not  the  whole  of  the  expense." 


154       INTERNATIONAL   CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES   AND    CORRECTION. 

"The  laicisation  of  —  has  cost  300,000  francs  ($60,000)  in  capital 
and  45,000  francs  ($9,000)  in  revenue,  sufficient  to  support  one  hun- 
dred or  more  old  people  in  the  old  people's  home.  When  beds  are 
wanting  for  the  unfortunate,  it  is  no  time  to  make  such  unnecessary 
use  of  the  public  resources.  Every  one  knows  that  the  sister's  is  the 
most  reliable  and  the  most  useful  service  for  hospitals ;  that  no  one 
can  take  her  place,  and  that  if  she  did  not  exist,  it  would  be  necessary 
to  invent  her.  To  whatever  religion  one  may  belong,  it  is  impossible 
to  deny  this." 

In  spite  of  such  conclusive  testimony,  different  provincial  municipali- 
ties have  demanded  and  obtained  from  the  government  the  removal  of 
the  Sisters  of  Charity.  With  the  men  who  govern  us  the  irreligious 
passion  is  everything  \  the  care  and  interests  of  the  sick  count  for 
nothing. 

Besides  the  various  kinds  of  hospitals  it  is  necessary  to  say  something 
of  the  institutions  devoted  to  the  aid  of  the  healthy  poor,  such  as  the 
bureaus  of  relief  {bureaux  de  bienfaisance.')  'I'his  name  dates  from  the 
beginning  of  this  century  and  was  taken  from  the  writings  of  the  Abbe  de 
Saint  Pierre,  but  the  idea  is  an  old  one.  There  were  at  the  end  of  the 
old  monarchy  a  large  number  of  bureaus  for  the  poor  {bureaux  des 
pauvres)  which  originated,  like  all  of  the  charitable  institutions  of  that 
time,  in  private  initiative,  and  were  ordinarily  made  up  of  the  leading 
men  and  some  of  the  clergy  of  a  parish.  Their  object  was  to  receive 
the  alms,  either  in  money  or  in  such  things  as  might  be  entrusted  to 
them,  with  the  view  of  making  a  useful  distribution  of  them  among  the 
poor  after  becoming  acquainted  with  their  needs.  In  1789  they  were 
numerous  and  had  already  received  some  endowments;  the  Revolution 
suppressed  them  and  seized  their  property. 

The  present  bureaus  of  relief  are  organized  upon  the  model  of  the 
old  bureaus  for  the  poor,  but  they  exist  only  by  the  authorization  of 
the  government,  which  establishes  them  by  decree.  They  are  admin- 
istered by  a  commission  chosen  as  follows  :  one-third  of  the  members 
by  the  municipal  council  and  two-thirds  by  the  prefect;  the  mayor  is 
president  ex  officio.  There  were  in  France  on  December  31,  1889,  (the 
last  public  figures),  19,308  bureaus  of  relief.  As  there  are  but  a  little 
over  36,000  communes,  and  as  certain  communes  have  several  bureaus 
(Paris  for  example,  has  twenty),  the  greater  number  of  rural  communes 
must  have  none. 

The  total  receipts  of  these  bureaus  were  in  the  year  1889  almost 
forty    million     francs    (39,734,000     francs    or    $7,946,800);    of    these 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  I  55 

i9»747;Ooo  francs  ($3,949,800)  came  from  the  revenues  of  the  property 
belonging  to  the  bureaus.  This  property  has  come  either  from  the  old 
endowments,  made  before  1789  in  favor  of  the  bureaus  for  the  poor  or 
other  analogous  works  and  since  given  over  to  the  bureaus  of  relief; 
or  from  donations  that  have  been  made  since.  It  is  thus  that  Mme. 
Boucicault,  wife  of  the  founder  of  the  Bon  Marche  at  Paris  and  pro- 
prietress of  a  large  fortune,  has  left  500,000  francs  (^100,000)  to  the 
poor  of  the  little  village  where  she  was  born.  This  sum  is  to  be  in- 
vested, and  it  will  yield  an  annual  revenue  of  19  or  20,000  francs  ($3,800 
or  $4,000).  Few  rural  bureaus  of  relief  have  so  large  an  income. 
12,192,000  francs  ($2,438,400)  have  been  furnished  by  the  communes, 
but  chiefly  by  the  city  communes;  7,346,000  francs  ($1,469,200)  have 
been  furnished  by  the  poor  tax,  the  name  given  to  the  tax  upon  the 
receipts  of  theaters  and  other  places  of  amusement  that  existed  prior 
to  1789.  Gifts  and  legacies  have  amounted  to  3,040,000  francs 
($608,000);  the  remainder  comes  from  different  sources  not  specified. 

The  aid  distributed  in  money  or  in  kind  (food,  clothing  and  fuel) 
amounts  to  30,879,000  francs  ($6,175,800)  and  the  number  of  indi- 
viduals who  have  received  aid  to  1,616,481,  which  makes  a  little  less 
than  twenty  francs  ($4)  for  each  person  aided.  But  this  implies  that 
the  distribution  has  been  equally  made;  but  in  fact,  in  some  places, 
where  the  bureaus  of  relief  have  only  a  small  fund  at  their  disposal, 
the  poor  enrolled  in  their  books  receive  sometimes  less  than  one  franc 
(twenty  cents)  per  year,  that  is  to  say,  almost  nothing.  There  are 
some  bureaus  which  distribute  nothing  for  want  of  funds. 

Of  this  total  of  forty  millions  francs  ($8,000,000)  Paris  contributes 
one-fourth,  or  about  ten  millions  ($2,000,000),  while  the  number  of 
poor  which  it  enrolls  is  from  110,000  to  120,000;  upon  which  we  may 
remark  in  passing  that  less  than  three  hundred  out  of  every  thousand 
are  native  Parisians.  Foreigners  or  people  from  the  departments 
represent  more  than  seventy  per  cent,  of  those  who  are  aided.  It  is 
a  matter  of  common  experience  that  large  numbers  of  people  ruined,  or 
upon  the  point  of  being  so,  press  into  Paris,  either  to  conceal  their 
misery  in  a  place  where  they  are  not  known,  or  with  the  hope  of 
finding  employment.  Often  the  authorities  of  small  towns  send  to 
Paris,  paying  their  railroad  fare,  the  infirm  or  habitual  beggars  who  might 
otherwise  become  a  charge  upon  them.  To  these  must  be  added  the 
immense  number  of  persons  of  both  sexes  who  come  to  Paris  expecting 
to  find  work  or  employment,  and  who,  not  finding  it,  fall  into  distress. 


156        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

It  is  certain  also,  though  it  is  difficult  to  prove  it  definitely,  that 
the  relative  abundance  of  the  public  relief  is  one  of  the  motives  that 
draws  the  country  population  into  cities,  especially  into  large  cities. 

Indeed  from  what  we  have  said  it  is  clear  that  relief  must  be  inade- 
quate, especially  in  the  country.  Louis  XIV,  touched  by  the  condi- 
tion of  the  rural  sick,  sent  every  year  into  all  parts  of  his  kingdom 
932,000  bottles  of  medicine  with  instructions  upon  the  labels.  They 
were  sent  to  the  sisters  who  took  care  of  the  sick  in  the  country  at  their 
own  homes  and  also  gave  instruction  to  children.  Louis  XVI  sent 
three  times  that  number,  but  the  Constituent  Assembly  in  1790  sup- 
pressed this  distribution  of  medicines,  giving  assurance  at  the  same  time 
that  it  would  establish  a  better  and  more  complete  system  of  relief. 
It  established  nothing,  however,  nor  did  the  assemblies  which  fol- 
lowed ;  but  in  certain  departments  the  general  council  have  tried 
different  means  of  aiding  the  sick  of  the  country.  The  means  most 
often  employed  consists  in  paying  a  small  salary  to  the  physicians 
practising  in  different  cantons,  for  which  they  consent  to  visit  gratui- 
tously the  poor  where  they  live;  though  well  intended,  the  system  in 
practice  yields  but  poor  results.  But  what  is  most  important  to  estab- 
lish is  that  these  results  have  been  very  variable;  sometimes  the  system  is 
praised,  but  more  often  criticised;  sometimes  opposite  opinions  are  heard 
within  the  same  department.  Again,  certain  departments  and  com- 
munes, after  having  made  use  of  this  system,  have  renounced  it. 

We  should  also  include  with  other  forms  of  public  relief  the  workhouses 
{depots  lie  mendicite),  where  vagabonds  without  a  home  {sans  asile)  are 
confined.  Begging  and  vagabondage  are  crimes  punishable  by  the 
laws  of  France,  but  the  laws  are  imperfectly  executed.  If  an  attempt 
should  be  made  to  shut  up  the  numerous  vagrants,  who  wander  through 
the  country  aided  by  the  peasants  who  fear  them,  or  encumber  the 
streets  of  large  cities,  it  would  be  necessary  to  build  ten  or  fifteen  times 
as  many  workhouses  as  there  are  now.  Those  which  exist  at  present 
are  so  full,  that  many  unfortunates  solicit  in  vain  the  privilege  of 
admission  to  them  and  for  that  purpose  even  submit  to  conviction  and 
sentence  by  the  courts;  for  these  workhouses  are  prisons,  as  well  as  homes 
or  asylums. 

To  get  a  true  estimate  of  the  buremix  de  bienfaisance,  which  are 
the  chief  means  of  aid  outside  of  the  hospitals  and  homes,  we  should 
bear  in  mind  that  they  are  a  source  of  hereditary  pauperism. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  157 

"I  have  seen,"  wrote  an  inspector  of  public  assistance,  and  a  man 
who  is  largely  occupied  in  questions  of  charity,  M.  de  Watteville,  "I 
have  seen  upon  the  registers  of  the  bureaus  of  relief  the  names  of  the 
worst,  even  of  the  very  worst,  people  among  those  who  are  registered 
there  to-day." 

In  short,  governmental  assistance  has  always  something  formal,  rigid 
and  bureaucratic  about  it,  which  does  not  easily  discriminate  between 
the  worthy  and  unworthy  poor.  As  long  as  the  bureaus  of  relief 
were  under  the  charge  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity,  investigations  and 
discriminations  were  made;  to-day  they  have  been  put  into  the  hands 
of  the  laity,  and  the  result  has  been  less  discernment  and  more 
distress.  The  tendency,  moreover,  is  to  give  aid  in  the  form  of 
public  works,  and  as  a  function  of  the  state  for  political  and,  above  all, 
for  electoral  purposes.  In  many  bureaus  of  Paris  it  is  asked  of  the 
unfortunates  who  solicit  aid:  What  school  do  vour  children  attend? 
If  they  go  to  schools  where  religion  is  taught,  and  where  prayers 
are  said  before  and  after  recitations,  aid  is  refused  them.  In  order  to 
receive  any  aid  they  must  send  their  children  to  the  communal  schools, 
from  which  all  religious  instruction  and  ideas  are  absolutely  banished. 
This,  too,  is  done  elsewhere  than  in  Paris.  And  some  years  ago  the 
sub-prefect  of  a  city  in  Normandy  replied  to  the  inhabitants  of  a  city 
destroyed  by  fire,  who  had  come  to  solicit  the  aid  voted  annually  for 
this  purpose,  (collective  disasters:  as  inundations,  conflagrations  of  a 
whole  city,  etc). 

"You  have  no  right  to  any  aid,  seeing  that  you  did  not  at  the  last 
parliamentary  election  vote  for  the  candidates  who  are  agreeable  to 
the  government;   relief  is  only  for  those  who  vote  right." 

It  is  indeed  the  tendency  of  the  party  at  present  in  power  to  use 
charity  as  an  instrument  for  perpetuating  its  power  and  realizing  its 
plans. 

§  2.     Private  Charity. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  power  of  the  dominant  party  shows 
itself  antagonistic  to  private  charity;  that  everything  which  originates 
outside  of  itself  is  displeasing  to  it;  and  that  everything  that  comes 
from  the  initiative  and  from  the  action  of  citizens  is  considered  as 
hostile. 

It  is  not  that  private  charity  is  not  well  spoken  of,  for  an  official 
has  said  of  it  to  the  Superior  Council  of  Assistance: 


158        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

"A  fair  and  unprejudiced  opinion  must  admit  that,  when  it  gives  with 
discretion,  it  furnishes  both  material  and  moral  support.  In  certain 
kinds  of  work  it  brings  a  spirit  of  sacrifice,  an  ingenuity  in  its  proce- 
dure, a  tact  in  its  application,  that  are  looked  for  in  vain  from  public 
assistance." 

After  this  beautiful  eulogy  it  would  seem  that  this  private  charity 
which  is  so  useful,  should  be  encouraged;  that,  at  least,  it  ought  to 
be  left  to  act  freely,  more  especially  as  it  fills  up  the  lacunae  and  insuffi- 
ciencies of  public  assistance.  We  shall  see,  on  the  contrary,  that  it  is 
combatted  without  relaxation  and  shackled  in  every  possible  manner. 

There  is,  however,  one  kind  of  charity  that  the  Convention  was 
no  more  able  to  hinder  than  the  legislatures  which  prohibited  alms- 
giving; that,  namely,  which  consists  not  only  in  aiding  neighbors  and 
dependents,  but  in  taking  grandparents  or  children  of  relatives  to  live 
with  one.  We  must  call  this  charity,  because  too  often  do  we  see  the 
kind  of  people  who  drive  away  their  aged  parents  or  send  them  to  an 
old  people's  home,  and  who  also  show  very  little  anxiety  for  their  own 
children,  for  whom  they  incessantly  demand  supplies,  allowances  and 
gratuities  of  all  sorts.  On  the  other  hand,  in  some  provinces,  where 
the  religious  spirit  has  been  preserved,  the  people  are  anxious,  even  in 
the  very  poorest  families,  to  take  their  grandparents  into  their  homes, 
and  even  orphans  whose  parents  are  strangers.  Thus  we  see  that  house- 
holds burdened  with  children  do  not  hesitate  to  take  orphans  whom  they 
treat  as  their  own  children.  Those  who  would  abandon  even  their 
cousins  would  be  poorly  thought  of  by  their  fellow-citizens.  Happy 
opinions  and  happy  sentiments,  which  permit  them  to  do  without  homes 
and  bureaus  of  relief! 

There  are,  however,  some  cases  where  one  cannot  perform  acts  of 
charity  by  single  handed,  as  in  building  orphanages,  free  hospitals  and 
people's  homes,  and  in  doing  all  sorts  of  works  which  are  multiplied  by 
Christian  charity.  Such  establishments  can  very  rarely  be  founded  by 
individuals;  ordinarily  an  association  is  necessary,  since  a  fund  must  be 
raised,  which  will  yield  an  assured  income,  and  it  is  here  that  the 
hostility  both  of  our  legislation  and  our  government  manifests  itself. 

According  to  our  laws,  no  association  of  more  than  twenty  per- 
sons, founded  for  any  purpose  whatever,  even  a  charitable  one,  can 
exist  except  by  permission  of  the  executive,  and  this  authorization 
is  given  or  refused  at  will,  without  justification  and  without  giving  any 
reasons  for  refusal.     Even  after  permission  iias  been  given   it  is  always 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  159 

revocable,  arbitrarily  and  without  cause.  In  fact,  most  of  the  existing 
charitable  associations  have  been  established  without  express  authoriza- 
tion ;  they  are  tolerated,  but  always  under  the  threat  of  persecution, 
which  the  government  from  time  to  time  carries  into  effect  where  a 
society  is  displeasing  to  it. 

In  the  same  way  a  license  is  necessary  in  order  to  establish  a  hospital 
or  a  home,  even  in  one's  own  house,  which  the  government  arbitrarily 
accords  or  refuses.  Indeed,  one  cannot  make  use  of  his  own  house  to 
receive  poor  sick  people,  or  orphans,  or  old  persons,  except  at  the  pleas- 
ure of  the  government.  There  exists  full  freedom  for  wine-shops;  one 
can  without  a  license  open  as  many  of  them  as  he  pleases.  Their  num- 
ber is  endless  and  constantly  increasing.  But  liberty  to  do  good  does 
not  exist;  it  depends  upon  the  caprice  of  the  authority  in  power.  There 
is  full  liberty  of  debauchery  in  one's  own  house;  it  is  the  right  of 
ownership.  But  one  cannot  practise  charity  there;  the  right  of  owner- 
ship then  suffers  a  check. 

In  order  that  any  charitable  institution  may  be  durable,  it  is  necessary 
that  it  should  possess  some  property — at  least  the  building  which  serves 
as  the  home  or  orphanage — and  a  little  revenue;  but  in  order  that  any 
institution,  even  though  it  has  been  licensed  as  an  association — a 
hospital  or  home — may  own  property,  there  is  required  another  special 
license,  and  since  it  is  an  affair  of  favors  and  influence  with  public 
officials  it  is  very  ditticult  to  get  what  is  called  the  "grant  of  public 
utility,"  (7-econtiaissance  cf  utilite publique);  and  even  a  work  thus  recog- 
nized cannot  receive  gifts  or  legacies  except  by  special  authority  in  every 
given  case,  and  this  sanction  depends  absolutely  upon  the  arbitrary  will 
of  the  men  in  power.  Further,  the  license  may  be  withdrawn  at  any 
time,  and  the  government  then  seizes  the  property  of  the  establishment 
and  distributes  it  as  it  pleases — for  example,  to  the  institutions  of  public 
assistance.  This  right  is  not  conferred  by  any  written  law.  But  there 
is  no  remedy  in  France  against  abu.se  of  power  by  the  government,* 
and  its  will  is  law. 

Another  concession  has  been  made  by  the  government,  which  it 
sometimes  uses  according  to  its  fancy,  that  is,  permission  to  citizens 
to  practise  charity  themselves — a  great  advance  upon  the  principles 
of  the  Revolution.     But  if  they  desire  to  entrust  the  charge  to  others  to 

*Thus  the  Council  of  .State,  in  a  recent  decision  upon  the  appeal  of  a  citizen, 
held  that  tax-payers  are  obliged  to  pay  a  tax  even  when  destined  to  cover  au 
illegal  expense,  simply  because  the  administration  desires  to  collect  it. 


l6o        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

do  it  for  them,  they  must  give  it  over  to  the  charge  of  the  Department 
of  Assistance,  and  to  it  alone.  Citizens  are  permitted  to  choose  at  will 
managers  for  their  own  affairs,  to  buy,  sell  and  trade  in  their  stead. 
But  in  the  matter  of  charity  they  can  choose  only  the  Department  of 
Public  Assistance,  even  if  it  inspire  but  little  confidence.  This,  also, 
is  not  in  any  written  law,  but  the  will  of  the  men  in  office  is  as 
strong  as  the  law  and  even  stronger.  Consequently  certain  function- 
aries seize  the  funds  of  such  or  such  a  private  institution,  on  the  plea  that 
this  money  was  intended  for  charity  and  is  not  expended  directly  by 
the  benefactors.  The  administrative  tribunals  often  distribute  to  the 
Department  of  Public  Assistance  legacies  left  either  to  ministers  of 
religion  or  to  certain  designated  persons  for  charitable  uses,  declaring 
that  benefactors  are  interdicted  from  making  other  distributions  of  their 
alms  than  to  the  Department  of  Public  Assistance,  and,  moreover,  that 
they  are  well  aware  of  this.  We  see  from  this  that  the  French  in  1893 
have  far  less  liberty  to  practise  charity  than  they  had  in  1789.  The 
word  liberty  is  inscribed  upon  all  of  our  public  buildings,  but  in  the 
matter  of  alms  it  exists  neither  in  law  nor  in  practice. 

We  have  still  to  speak  of  the  taxes  imposed  upon  religious  associa- 
tions, even  those  which  are  solely  occupied  in  works  of  charity, 
which  fall  on  the  buildings  reserved  for  the  infirm  and  sick,  the  beds  on 
which  they  lie,  the  food  which  they  eat,  and  the  furniture  which  they 
use.  These  taxes  are  of  recent  origin.  Formerly  charitable  establish- 
ments paid  the  same  taxes  as  individuals;  but  for  about  eight  years  they 
have  paid  in  addition  special  taxes  levied  for  the  purpose  of  ruining 
the  religious  communities,  but  which  fell  chiefly  upon  the  sick  and 
poor.  For  it  is  first  of  all  necessary  to  satisfy  the  public  treasury,  and 
then  there  remains  less  for  the  benefit  of  unfortunates.  They  are 
therefore  obliged  either  to  restrict  the  number  of  those  whom  they 
assist  or  to  retrench  in  the  care  and  attendance  they  give  to  them. 
But  the  party  which  is  in  power  at  the  present  time  would  rather  see 
the  wretched  without  aid  than  to  see  them  aided  by  private  charity, 
and  above  all  by  Catholic  charity.* 

*I  take  the  liberty  to  refer  those  who  may  be  surprised  at  this  allegation  to  a 
work  that  I  have  recently  published,  where  many  facts  are  cited  which  I  cannot 
quote  liere,  and  which  has  been  crowned  bv  the  Academy  of  Moral  and  Political 
Sciences,  which  shows  its  value  and  accuracy  of  statement:  Charity  before  and 
since  17S9.      {La    Charitt  avant  et  depuis,    1789.     Paris:   Guillaumin,   editeur:  435 

PP-) 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  l6l 

But  in  spite  of  this,  private  charity,  so  fettered  and  so  combatted,  pro- 
duces a  multitude  of  institutions  and  gives  relief  to  an  immense  number 
of  unfortunates.  Zealous  persons  who  are  engaged  in  the  work  speak 
encouragingly,  even  in  spite  of  the  obstacles  and  risks  which  they  have 
often  to  encounter.  Their  property  is  in  the  name  of  the  president  or 
treasurer  of  the  work  in  hand,  but  as  individuals,  not  as  officers  of  an 
incorporated  charity,  for  otherwise  the  property  would  be  confiscated 
as  belonging  to  an  institution  not  recognized  by  the  law.  There  is 
established,  in  fact,  a  sort  of  tolerance  which  is  never  very  certain, 
which  sometimes  gives  rise  to  prosecutions  and  convictions,  but  which 
never  arouses  the  zeal  inspired  by  the  love  of  God  and  of  one's  neigh- 
bors. 

There  has  also  been  formed  in  Paris  a  Central  Office  of  Charitable 
Works  (^Office  central  des  oeuvres  charitables:  3,  rue  Champagny^  which 
has  for  its  object  the  giving  information  to  those  who  seek  to  further 
the  existence  of  the  numerous  private  institutions  that  are  unknown 
to  the  public,  because  they  have  but  a  modest  existence,  and  are  not 
known  outside  of  their  own  locality.  The  bureau  points  out  to  what 
institution  one  may  go  who  wishes  to  aid  such  or  such  classes  of  unfor- 
tunates; and  one  may  also  learn  from  it  upon  what  conditions  the  poor, 
the  infirm,  orphans,  etc.,  whom  one  may  wish  to  help,  are  received  and 
aided.  On  the  other  hand  the  bureau  endeavors  to  find  out  who  are 
considered  generous  persons,  in  order  to  request  their  aid. 

To  the  charitable  institutions  it  is  fitting  to  add  briefly  an 
account  of  the  provident  institutions,  which  in  their  way  also 
practise  charity.  First  of  all  there  are  the  mutual  aid  societies  [socie- 
tes  de  secours  mutuel),  of  which  there  were  on  December  31,  1890,  (the 
last  official  figures)  9,144,  with  1,436,000  members  and  possessing 
173,432,000  francs  ($34,686,400).  They  give  aid  to  their  sick  mem- 
bers, and  sometimes  have  old-age  pensions  {pensions  de  retraite).  We 
may  note  in  passing  that  only  those  that  have  honorary  members,  i.  e., 
members  who  pay  assessments  without  the  right  to  benefits,  are  self-sup- 
porting; the  others  always  have  a  deficit,  due  to  the  smallness  of  their 
assessments,  which  are  always  relatively  low.  Then  there  is  the  Na- 
tional Old- Age  Pension  Fund  {Caisse  nationale  de  retraites  pour  la 
vieillesse),  a  state  institution  which  receives  deposits,  however  small, 
and  in  exchange  guarantees  pensions,  proportioned  to  the  sums  received 
and  to  the  time  during  which  they  have  remained  on  deposit.  Finally, 
we  should  mention  the  numerous  charitable  institutions  created  by  em- 
II 


l62        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS   OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

ployers  in  behalf  of  their  employees,  as  the  Fund  for  Insurance  against 
Sickness  (^Caisse  de  secours  contre  la  maladie),  Pension  Funds  (^Caisses 
de  /-etraitt'),  etc.,  by  which  about  a  million  people  are  benefited,  for  the 
most  part  heads  of  families;  but  an  account  of  these  would  transcend 
the  limits  of  the  present  memoir. 

And  yet  these  useful  institutions  are  menaced  by  several  bills  at  pre- 
sent pending  before  our  Parliament :  bills  for  compulsory  old  age  pen- 
sions organized,  as  in  Germany,  by  the  State;  bills  to  compel  employers 
to  establish  a  fund  or  funds  for  insurance  against  sickness,  also  as  in 
Germany.  If  such  laws  should  be  passed,  they  would  be  the  ruin  of 
institutions  coming  from  private  initiative.  There  is  also  before  our 
Legislature  a  bill,  under  the  modest  title  of  "An  Act  for  the  Organiza- 
tion of  free  medical  relief"  (^Loi  stir  f organisation  de  la  medicine, 
gratuite),  obliging  the  communes  to  organize  bureaus  of  relief,  so 
that  every  commune  shall  have  its  own  bureau  directed  by  men  ap- 
pointed by  the  national  administration,  and  having  in  their  hands  the 
resources  coming  from  the  tax  levied  for  the  benefit  of  these  bureaus. 
They  are  to  occupy  themselves  first  of  all  in  giving  aid  to  the  sick,  but 
one  may  well  imagine  that  their  role  would  soon  be  extended,  and  that 
under  the  name  of  aid  they  would  give  political  subsidies. 

It  may  not  be  useless  in  closing  to  note  the  constantly  growing 
tendency  of  our  legislators  and  administration  to  put  everything  into 
the  hands  of  the  government,  and  to  replace  the  ancient  form  of 
charity,  done  by  the  faithful  with  their  money  and  for  the  safety  of  their 
souls,  by  a  charity  done  by  the  administration  with  the  money  of  tax- 
payers and  for  electoral  purposes. 

IV. 

Charity  in  Belgiu.m. 

What  has  been  said  of  charity  in  France  before  1789  is  applicable 
also  to  Belgium,  with  slight  differences  in  details.  As  has  been  justly 
remarked  by  a  profound  thinker  and  great  historian,  M.  Alexis  de 
Tocqueville,  the  social  situation  of  the  different  Christian  nations  of 
Western  Europe  was,  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  more 
nearly  identical  than  it  is  to-day.  The  same  ardent  religious  faith  had 
everywhere  created  similar  institutions  of  charity,  which  were  obviously 
organized  on  the  same  plan.  Everywhere,  too,  since  the  sixteenth 
century  the  lay  power  has  interfered  in  the  management  of  charitable 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  163 

endowments,  and   gradually  drawn  to   itself  powers,  which  at  first  be- 
longed to  the  church  alone. 

The  Low  Countries  of  Austria — the  provinces  that  constitute  the 
present  kingdom  of  Belgium — having  been  conquered  by  the  French 
armies  in  1792,  were  from  that  time  treated  as  a  part  of  France;  that 
is  to  say,  the  property  devoted  to  charitable  works  was  seized  by  the 
state,  and  charitable  associations  abolished.  Confiscation  and  destruc- 
tion produced  the  same  effects  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Directory,  which  returned  to  the  charitable  establish- 
ments at  least  a  part  of  their  property. 

Belgium  remained  a  part  of  France  until  18 19,  and  during  that  time 
it  accustomed  itself  so  well  to  our  civil  and  administrative  methods  that 
it  has  retained  up  to  the  present  time  not  only  our  code,  but  many  of 
our  governmental  practices.  Charity  there,  as  in  France,  is  practised 
both  by  individuals  and  by  public  authority.  There  is,  therefore,  both 
private  charity  and  public  assistance. 

Private  charity  is  freer  in  Belgium  than  in  France :  first,  because 
there  the  right  of  association  exists,  being  recognized  and  guaranteed 
by  the  constitution;  second,  because  the  Belgian  government  (the  Cath- 
olic party  being  in  power)  is  favorable  to  private  almsgiving,  even 
though  it  has  a  religious  origin,  while  in  France  it  is  looked  upon  in  a 
bad  light,  and  often  persecuted  by  the  irreligious  government  which  at 
present  is  in  power.  As  a  result  the  number  of  private  charities  is  large 
in  Belgium,  in  spite  of  the  small  extent  of  the  country  (about  six  mil- 
lion inhabitants  against  thirty-eight  millions  in  France).  Belgium 
glories,  and  with  reason,  in  being  the  classical  land  of  charity,  and  the 
religious  faith  which  animates  the  great  majority  of  her  population 
sustains  and  animates  her  in  a  noble  course.  And  yet,  in  one  respect, 
private  charity  is  no  better  treated  in  Belgium  than  in  France.  I 
refer  to  the  right  of  charitable  institutions  to  possess  property.  In 
this  respect  the  administrative  rules  and  practices  of  France  are  found 
also  in  Belgium,  and  we  have  seen  that  these  rules  and  practices  are 
hostile  to  the  existence  of  charitable  foundations.  In  Belgium,  as  in 
France,  most  institutions  do  not  hold  property  in  their  own  name ; 
what  they  have  is  in  the  name  of  a  president,  a  treasurer,  an  adminis- 
trator, or,  indeed,  of  a  society  which  has  apparently  some  other  inte- 
rest of  its  own;  for  only  to  these  does  the  law  allow  the  right  to  openly 
possess  property.  This  situation  is  full  of  uncertainty  and  there  is 
danger  from  legislation  in  both  countries  alike,  which  does  not  recognize 


164        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

in  individuals  the  right  to  dispose  of  their  own  property  by  will,  but 
assures  to  children  and  relatives  in  the  ascendant  line  a  compulsory 
division  of  the  succession.  It  is  this  which  hinders  charitable  estab- 
lishments due  to  private  liberality  from  having  the  stability,  security, 
and  development  which  they  would  otherwise  have,  and  which  they  still 
have  in  some  foreign  countries  ruled  by  a  more  liberal  legislation. 

As  to  public  assistance  we  may  say  that  it  is  first  of  all  given  in 
hospitals,  using  the  term  in  its  broadest  sense  {etablissements  hospitallers), 
hospitals,  homes  or  asylums,  orphanages,  etc.,  whose  legal  position  is 
very  analogous  to  that  of  institutions  of  the  same  character  in  France. 
There  are  also  some  bureaus  of  relief,*  but  since  Belgium  has  been 
separated  from  France  she  has  had  some  peculiar  laws  of  her  own,  which 
have  given  to  administrative  charity  a  different  turn  from  what  it  has 
received  in  France. 

The  old  canonical  rule,  which  Charlemagne,  even  at  that  early 
period,  recommended  to  be  observed,  would  have  every  parish  feed 
its  own  poor — qiiisque  civitas  pauperes  suos  alito.  But  this  was  a  rule 
which  had  only  a  moral  sanction  and  which  did  not  give  to  the  poor 
a  right  to  demand  help.  The  inhabitants  of  the  parish  might  furnish 
it  to  them,  but  there  was  only  an  obligation  of  conscience  ;  no  human 
power  could  constrain  them.  There  was  nevertheless,  in  the  northern 
part  of  France  a  greater  tendency  to  regard  this  as  imparting  a  sort  of 
obligation,  and  it  was  the  same  in  the  countries  which  to-day  form  Bel- 
gium. Temporal  sovereigns  have  at  different  times  tried  to  give  assur- 
ance of  the  maintenance  of  the  poor  by  their  own  parishes.  This  gave 
rise  to  a  dim  idea  of  obligation,  which,  however,  was  not  found  in 
France.  And  even  in  Belgium  it  produced  no  serious  results  except  in 
consequence  of  a  law  passed  in  18 18,  while  Belgium  was  under  the  rule 
of  Holland — a  rule  lasting  from  1815  to  1 831,  when  Belgium  became 
an  independent  kingdom. 

This  law  made  easier  the  acquisition  of  a  domicile  for  purposes 
of  receiving  aid  {domicile  de  secours,)  and,  gave  a  commune,  which 
had  relieved  an  indigent  person  found  in  its  territory,  the  right  to 
demand  reimbursement  from  the  commune  in  which  he  resided.  But 
the  communes  could  easily  give  aid  in  this  manner,  at  the  same  time 
that  they  were  harsh  and  even   "inhuman"  (the   word   is  found   in  a 

*Their  revenue,  according  to  the  figures  of  1889,  amounts  to  about  10,500.000 
francs  ($2,100,000.) 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  I  65 

recent  report  made  by  the  Belgian  Senate)  in  regard  to  the  poor 
whose  support  would  finally  fall  upon  themselves.  The  result  was  that 
claims  were  made  upon  rural  communes — often  without  resources — for 
sums  alleged  to  have  been  given  for  providing  aid  without  their  assent 
and  without  their  knowledge.  It  was  the  ruin  of  some.  Legally,  it 
is  true,  the  aid  might  be  given  by  the  commune  w^here  the  indigent 
person  was  living  (com?mine  de  la  residence)  in  case  of  great  neces- 
sity. But  in  fact  this  right  was  not  observed.  Says  the  preamble  of 
the  law  of  1891,  of  which  I  shall  speak: 

"We  shall  soon  see  the  communes  giving  assistance  without  limit  to 
the  poor  \vho  do  not  belong  to  them,  and  using  all  sorts  of  quibbles  and 
having  recourse  to  all  sorts  of  frauds  in  order  to  avoid  their  own  obliga- 
tions and  to  baffle  the  execution  of  a  law,  whose  injustice  would  seem 
to  excuse  all   resistance." 

A  law  of  1849,  which  was  designed  to  improve  the  situation,  is  vicious, 
because  it  retains  the  bad  principle  of  the  former  law,  which  permitted 
one  commune  to  have  recourse  to  another  and  even  made  it  easy  to  do 
so. 

Further,  while  certain  able-bodied  paupers  were  aided  with  excessive 
promptness,  other  unfortunates  more  in  need  of  aid,  but  unable  to 
solicit  it  themselves — the  demented,  the  blind  and  deaf-mutes — were 
reduced  to  such  a  point  that  a  special  laAv  was  necessary  in  order  to 
secure  them  aid.  In  1878  Parliament  voted  to  create  a  Common  Fund 
in  every  province,  to  be  furnished  by  a  deposit  made  by  the  communes 
in  proportion  to  their  population.  •  The  distribution  was  to  be  made 
on  the  basis  of  need,  that  is  to  say,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
unfortunates  to  be  aided. 

This  law,  which  seemed  sufficiently  just,  soon  gave  rise  to  the  liveliest 
complaints  on  the  part  of  the  rural  communes,  who  declared  that  they 
were  sacrificed  to  the  large  centers  of  population.  "We  pay,"  they 
said,  "and  we  receive  nothing;  the  Common  Fund  all  goes  to  the 
cities,  and  above  all  to  the  large  cities."  Thus  in  1888,  by  the  offi- 
cial figures,  the  city  of  Liege  had  contributed  to  the  Common  Fund  of 
the  province  89,000  francs  ($17,800);  it  had  received  from  the  same 
fund  194,000  francs  {$38,800);  Ghent  had  contributed  149,000  francs 
($29,800)  and  had  received  268,000  francs  ($53,600);  Brussels,  the 
capital  of  the  kingdom,  had  contributed  160,000  francs  ($32,000)  and 
had'received  330,000  francs  ($66,000).  The  municipalities  of  the  large 
cities  could  allege  with  truth  that  they  had  received  the  poor  and  infirm 


l66        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

from  all  parts  of  the  country;  but  one  might  reply  to  them  that  they 
had  also  the  largest  resources  and  the  most  wealth,  and  that  a  contribu- 
tion to  the  Common  Fund  in  proportion  to  population  is  at  once  oner- 
ous and  unjust. 

It  was  to  satisfy  these  complaints  that  three  acts  were  passed,  Novem- 
ber 27,  1891,  which,  though  distinct,  together  form  a  whole  which 
re-organized  the  public  relief  of  Belgium. 

One  of  these  acts  relates  to  the  repression  of  begging  and  vagrancy: 
it  provides  for  three  kinds  of  institutions;  workhouses  for  convicted 
beggars  and  vagabonds,  which  are  already  established,  houses  of  refuge 
[inaisons  de  refuge')  for  the  same  class  of  individuals,  though  not  con- 
victed, who  may  be  sent  there  either  by  the  courts  after  arrest,  or  by 
the  communal  authorities  directly — and  in  this  case  the  commune 
defrays  the  cost  of  their  maintenance  ;  and  finally,  the  charity 
schools  [ecoles  de  bienfaisance)  for  individuals  (always  beggars  and 
vagabonds)  under  eighteen  years  of  age.  In  all  these  institutions  labor 
is  to  be  compulsory ;  and  a  part  of  the  earnings  is  given  to  the 
inmates  in  money,  part  in  clothing  and  tools,  when  they  are  dis- 
charged. 

The  other  two  acts  relate  to  medical  relief  and  public  charity  in 
general.  Relief  of  the  sick  {T  assistance  des  malades)  is  obligatory. 
"The  communes  must  provide  medical  treatment  for  the  sick  who  are 
found  within  their  territory."  On  the  contrary,  relief  of  able-bodied 
paupers  is  not  compulsory.  "Public  relief  will  be  furnished  to  paupers 
by  the  commune  in  which  they  are  found."  It  will  be  noticed  how 
the  terms  of  the  law  differ  in  these  two  cases  ;  there  is  in  the  second 
case  only  a  kind  of  exhortation  or,  as  it  is  called,  a  "moral  obliga- 
tion." 

The  commune  which  furnishes  relief  has  a  legal  claim  upon  the  com- 
mune where  the  pauper  resides  only  in  cases  of  sick  persons,  children 
under  sixteen  years  of  age,  or  persons  over  seventy;  and  yet  no  claim 
exists  if  it  is  a  case  "of  a  laborer,  an  apprentice  or  a  domestic 
admitted  into  the  hospital  in  consequence  of  an  accident  while  at 
work."      The  expenses  of  strangers  are  met  by  the  government. 

The  Common  Fund  is  maintained  because  of  the  service  which  it  ren- 
ders in  procuring  relief  for  a  class  of  unfortunates  who  would  otherwise 
have  nothing.  But  the  province  and  the  central  government  furnish 
only  half;   the  other  half  is  paid  by  the  communes,  in  proportion  both 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  167 

to  their  population  and  their  resources,  calculated  according  to  the  tax 
returns. 

These  new  laws,  then,  alleviate  the  burdens  of  the  communes,  but 
increase  that  of  the  central  government.  This,  indeed,  is  a  popular 
tendency,  since  nobody  then  seems  to  pay  anything.  Besides,  these 
laws  are  too  recent,  having  been  in  force  but  one  year,  for  one  to  be 
able  to  say  what  their  practical  operation  will  be,  or  whether  they 
will  satisfy  the  hopes  aroused,  and  will  do  the  good  expected  of  them. 

As  to  provident  institutions,  Belgium  possesses  numerous  mutual  aid 
%oc\eX.\QS  (jocietes  de  secours  mtituel).  In  1889  there  were  299  "recog- 
nized" societies,  having  39,000  members  and  a  capital  of  7,641,000 
francs  ($1,528,000),  and  more  than  90  societies  not  recognized.  In 
addition  to  these,  employers,  especially  the  large  corporations,  as  for 
example  the  Vielle  Alontagne,  have  organized  for  their  emplovees  numer- 
ous institutions  for  giving  aid,  which  cannot  be  detailed  here. 


1 68        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


CHARITABLE    ORGANIZATIONS    AND    CHARITABLE    WORK 

IN    ITALY. 

BY    EGISTO    ROSSI. 

In  Italy,  as  in  other  civilized  countries,  benevolent  institutions  are  of 
very  ancient  origin. 

Although  the  lex  frument aria  of  Cornelius  Gracchus*  and  the  congi- 
aria'\  of  Julius  Caesar,  cannot  be  reasonably  considered  benevolent 
institutions  in  the  sense  in  which  we  now  use  the  words,  nevertheless  in 
those  periodical  distributions  of  grain  and  bread,  we  find,  as  it  were, 
the  very  beginnings  of  the  present  system  of  legal  taxation  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  poor,  or  the  maintenance,  to  a  certain  extent,  of  the  indi- 
gent classes  at  the  expense  of  the  town  or  city. 

Under  Trajan,  public  charity  assumed  a  character  somewhat  more 
modern  with  the  foundation  of  the  '■'■Instituti  Alimentari,''''  destined  to 
provide  the  necessary  food  for  the  poor  children  of  Rome  as  well  as  of 
the  provinces.  The  many  foreign  wars  undertaken  by  him  had  de- 
prived thousands  of  families  of  their  head,  and  it  seemed  only  right  to 
the  Emperor  to  provide  for  the  children  until  the  latter  should  be  able 
to  live  by  their  own  labor.  According  to  Pliny  the  younger,  in  his  cele- 
brated panegyric  I  upon  the  Emperor  Trajan,  these  institutions  were  estab- 
lished about  the  year  853  of  the  foundation  of  Rome,  and  100  of  the 
Christian    era.     Under  the  Republic,    as  well   as   under  the   Empire, 

*This  tribune,  as  is  well  known,  with  the  desire  for  popularity,  proposed  that  a 
tnodiiis  (8.64  litres)  of  wheat  should  be  distributed  to  the  poor  every  month  at 
public  expense,  which  custom  afterwards  became  a  law.  (V.  Appianus,  De  Bella 
Civile.') 

'[Congiariunt  from  congius,  a  measure  containing  about- 200  ounces.  The  con- 
giariivi  is  different  from  the  doiiativnm,  which  was  a  i^ift  to  the  soldiers,  while 
the  former  was  given  only  to  the  people. 

tWe  find  in  Ch.  26  of  this  Panegyric  the  following  words  of  Pliny,  speak- 
ing of  the  children  led  by  their  parents  into  the  presence  of  the  Prince  on  the 
day  of  the  distribution  of  the  cojigiaria:  ^  Tu  iie  rogari  qiiide7H  sustinuisii  et, 
quamqtta7n  laetissimiim  ociilis  litis  esset,  conspectii  Rotuanae  stibolis  impleri,  omnes 
tarnen.^  antequam  te  videretit,  adirentve,  recipi  iiuidi  jussisti,  ut  Jam  inde  ab  iiifantia 
parentem  publicum  niunere  educationis  experirentur,  crescerent  de  tuo  qui  crescerent 
tibi,  ALIMENTISQUE  TUIS  ad  stipendia  tua  pervenirent.  Haec  privia  parvulorum 
civium  vox  aures  tuas  imbuit,  quibtis  iu  daturus  alimenta  hoc  maximum  praesti- 
tisti,  ne  rogarent.''''    Etc. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  169 

ancient  Rome's  conception  of  brotherly  love  was  simply  a  natural 
instinct  or  philosophical  sentiment,  and  even  oftener  a  political  and 
social  expedient. 

On  the  contrary,  under  Christianity  this  sentiment  became  a  religi- 
ous precept  and  the  basis  of  the  new  social  and  religious  life.  And  it 
is  only  in  passing  from  pagan  to  Christian  civilization  that  the  founda- 
tions of  modern  benevolence  were  laid.  Charities  or  donations,  ceased 
by-and-by  to  emanate  from  the  government,  especially  for  politi- 
cal aims  as  before,  but  became  a  moral  duty.  The  ''panem  et  circenses" 
was  supplanted  by  private  and  voluntary  charity.  Government  aid  had 
produced  corruption,  whereas  spontaneous  help,  the  Christian  agapae, 
tended  to  create  a  strong  brotherly  feeling. 

The  primitive  church,  with  its  large  income,  increased  still  more  by 
the  donations  of  the  Christian  Emperors,  was  able  not  only  to  decree 
in  the  Council  of  Nice  the  erection  of  a  hospital  [xenodochiuin)  in 
almost  every  city,  but  also  opened  and  rapidly  multiplied  public 
asylums  of  all  kinds;  as  foundling  homes  {brephotropJimm) ,  orphanages 
{orphanotrophitini),  asylums  for  the  aged  poor  [gerontocomium) ,  and  for 
invalid  workingmen  [parainonari),  etc. 

Although  many  of  these  institutions  underwent  great  transforma- 
tions in  the  middle  ages,  and  not  a  few  of  them  have  ceased  to 
exist,  nevertheless  a  large  part  of  the  spirit  which  animated  them 
has  been  transformed  into  the  more  modern  institutions;  as  our  present 
hospitals  of  various  kinds,  religious  coiafraternities  with  charitable 
objects,  poorhouses,  foundling  asylums,  etc.,  of  which  we  have  now  a 
large  number,  all  testify. 

In  Italy  the  large  majority  of  benevolent  institutions  have  been 
founded  by  private  means  and  are  still  supported  to  a  great  extent  by 
perpetual  endowments. 

We  have  not  a  legal  tax  for  the  aid  of  the  poor,  although  many 
municipalities  make  a  yearly  appropriation  for  that  object  in  the  form 
of  subsidies  for  the  charitable  organizations  already  existing,  as  will  be 
seen  later. 

The  law  prohibits  absolutely  all  begging;  but  as  the  number  of  poor- 
houses  is  not  everywhere  sufficient  for  the  need,  in  many  cities  and 
towns  mendicity  unfortunately  is  still  tolerated. 

With  the  object  of  removing  this  jjlague  of  begging,  and  also  with 
the  view  of  bringing  about  a  much  needed  reform  in  the  numerous 
institutions   of  benevolence,   of  which  we    shall    speak    later,    various 


170        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

scrhemes  have  been  brought  before  Parliament  at  different  times,  and 
with  the  new  law  (Legge  sulle  Opere  Pie)  recently  put  into  execution,  a 
great  advance  has  been  made  in  the  way  of  repressing  this  shameful 
practice. 

The  charitable  institutions  having  a  perpetual  endowment  are  many. 
Their  total    patrimony  is  very  large   and   they  have   a   great  variety  of 
objects,  hardly  exceeded  perhaps  in  any  other  country. 

There  are,  for  example,  institutions  which  are  called  <■<■  Opere  pie  ele- 
mosiniere,'''  and  which  distribute  to  the  poor  money,  clothes,  or  eata- 
bles; others  which  give  a  dowry  to  girls  about  to  be  married;  others 
which  provide  for  the  nursing  and  care  of  foundlings;  others  for  instruc- 
tion in  colleges  or  parochial  schools. 

Besides  these,  we  have  many  hospitals,  infant  asylums,  educational 
institutions,  houses  of  rest  and  refuge,  reform  schools,  houses  of  pro- 
tection for  recently  liberated  criminals,  endowments  for  prison  visit- 
ing, poorhouses,  blind,  deaf  and  dumb,  and  lunatic  asylums,  work- 
houses, homes  for  poor  widows,  house  visiting  among  the  poor,  mater- 
nity hospitals,  seaside  hospitals  for  scrofulous  or  rachitic  children,  the 
furnishing  of  wheat  and  grain  {^Monti fniinentari)  to  poor  peasants  for 
sowing,  confraternities  for  the  transportation  of  .the  sick  to  the  hos- 
pitals, and  for  the  burial  of  the  dead  belonging  to  poor  families. 

These  and  other  similar  institutions,  which  the  piety  and  charity  of 
our  ancestors  founded  for  the  benefit  of  the  needy  classes  in  Italy,  have 
usually  been  directed  and  governed  according  to  the  stipulations  of  the 
wills  of  their  founders,  although  the  origin  of  many  of  them  is  really 
lost  in  the  distant  obscurity  of  time.  Many  of  much  more  recent  date 
have  been  added  to  them,  and  their  number  is  constantly  increasing. 

Before  the  constitution  of  the  United  Kingdom,  the  public  charities 
in  Italy  were  subject  to  no  law  of  a  general  character,  but  each  of  the 
States  into  which  the  country  was  divided  regulated  its  institutions 
according  to  its  own  ideas,  especially  where  its  interference  was  not 
contrary  to  the  statutes  of  the  same. 

The  first  Italian  law  with  regard  to  public  benevolence  was  that  of 
1862,  which  had  two  objects:  to  systematize  and  give  unity  to  the  vari- 
ous Italian  laws  upon  the  subject,  and  to  free  them  from  injurious  politi- 
cal interference,  leaving  the  control  mainly  in  their  own  hands.  Italy 
had  just  escaped  from  a  state  of  bitter  despotism,  whose  effects  had 
been  felt  even  in  the  administration  of  charities,  making  them  serve 
political  or  religious  ends,  which  accounts  for  the  very  liberal  character 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  171 

of  the  law  of  1862;  although  according  to  its  provisions,  the  ad- 
ministration of  each  institution  was  obliged  to  keep  an  exact  account  of 
all  its  property  and  documents,  and  to  make  an  annual  financial 
request  to  the  proper  authorities.  Many  neglected  this,  and  the  experi- 
ence of  about  twenty-five  years  has  demonstrated  that  the  almost  abso- 
lute autonomy  then  existing  was  not  without  its  inconveniences,  and 
that  it  might  be  necessary  to  strengthen  the  means  of  control  and 
supervision. 

The  first  investigating  committee  was  appointed  by  Sig.  Nicutera,  at 
that  time  Minister  of  the  Interior,  but  a  change  in  the  Ministry  pre- 
vented their  propositions  from  becoming  law. 

In  the  Congress  held  in  Naples  (1879),  and  in  Milan  (1880),  this 
much  needed  reform  was  again  discussed,  resulting  in  the  appointment 
by  the  Government  in  1880  of  a  Royal  Commission,  who  were  to  in- 
vestigate minutely  and  prepare  a  report  upon  the  conditions  of  the 
benevolent  institutions  throughout  the  Kingdom. 

The  commission,  composed  of  persons  most  of  whom  belonged  to 
the  two  houses  of  Parliament,  went  seriously  and  earnestly  to  work, 
receiving  most  valuable  aid  from  the  minute  and  carefully  prepared 
statistics  furnished  them  by  Commendatore  LuigiBodio,  the  well  known 
Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  in  Rome,  who  had  spared  no  pains 
to  collect  all  information  bearing  upon  the  subject.* 

After  long  and  careful  studies,  occcupying  a  period  of  about  nine 
years,  the  reforms  proposed  by  the  above  commission  assumed  definite 
form  in  the  new  bill  presented  to  Parliament  in  February,  1889,  by 
Sig.  Crispi,t  at  that  time  Premier,  and  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  new 
reform.  This  bill,  after  long  debate,  was  approved  in  July  of  the  year 
1890. 

Before  speaking  in  detail  of  this  new  law  it  seems  desirable  to  give 
some  statistics  with  regard  to  all  such  institutions,  collected  by  the 
Statistical  Bureau  for  the  use  of  the  commission,  and  also  some  of  still 
later  date. 

In  1880  there  were  in  Italy  21,769  institutions  of  charity.  These 
were  distributed  among  the  different  provinces,  as  indicated  in  the 
following  table : 

*These  statistics  are  contained  in  ten  large  volumes,  and  constitute  a  most 
valuable  monograph  which  reflects  great  credit  upon  our  Statistical  Bureau. 

t  Besides  Sig.  Crispi,  among  those  who  took  an  active  and  important  part  in 
the  discussion  of  this  bill,  Senator  P.  Villari,  whose  writings 'upon  this  subject 
are  well  known,  Senator  G.  Costa  and  Hon.  O.  Luchini,  who  were  chairmen  of 
their  respective  committees  in  the  Senate  and   Chamber,  are  worthy  of  mention. 


172 


Classification  of  Charities  according  to  the  principal 


H 

3 
a 


I 

2 

3 
4 

5 
6 

7 
8 

9 
10 
1 1 

12 

13 


H 


Kinds  of  Charities. 


A.     WITHOUT    BOARD    AND    LODGING. 


3 
4 

5 
6 

7 

8 

9 
10 
II 
12 

13 

14 

15 
16 


Inslitutions  for  distributing  alms  

For  instruction  or  educational  purposes. 

For  dowries  to  women  about  to  be  married 

For  subsidies  for  poor  widows 

For  the  nursing  of   infants 

For  orphans  and  deserted  children 

For  helping  the  sick  poor  in  their  homes. 

For  nursing  mothers 

For  the  aid  of  prisoners 

For  the  help  of  criminals  recently  released 

For  the  transportation  of  the  sick  poor  to 
and  from  hospitals 

For  the  burial  of  the  dead 

For  the  saying  of  masses  for  the  dead  and 
other  religious  objects  combined  with 
some  charitable  purpose 

For  exclusively  religious  purposes 


Total  number  of  institutions  not  offering 
shelter  or  refuge 

B.     WITH    BOARD    AND    LODGING. 

Hospitals,  exclusive  of  chronic  cases 

Seaside  hospitals  for  sick  children 

Institutions  for  the  benefit  of  the  rachitic. 

Lying-in  hospitals 

Foundling  asylums 

Asylums  for  nursing  infants 

Day  nurseries  or  kindergartens  (although 
not  corresponding  exactly  to  either) 

Orphan  asylums  and  boarding  schools 

Reform  schools 

Houses  of  industry 

Hoines  for  widows .* 

Houses  of  refuge,  poorhouses,  hospitals 
for  chronic  cases 

Insane  asylums .• 

Deaf  and  dumb  asylums 

Blind  asylums 

Other  institutions  combining  several  ob- 
jects included  above 


Total    number,    which    offer 
shelter 


refuge     or 


•a 


1,282 

151 

170 


148 
4 

3 

2 


71 

7 


170 

3 
I 

2 

II 

3 

284 

91 
3 

2 

4 
31 

2 
I 
I 

13 


v 

a 

S 
o. 


1,577 

124 

639 
24 

15 

4 

784 

76 


172 
1 1 


1,840        3,427 


149 

4 
I 

II 

4 

126 

79 
6 
8 
I 

55 

3 
6 


General  Total. 


622 
2,462 


527 
3.9S4 


3 


165 
26 

43 
I 

39 
I 


24 


299 


58 


53 
18 


10 

I 

4 
I 

5 


157 
456 


> 
o 


.2  Oh 


> 


565 

55 
211 

5 


224 
I 


37 
9 


1,107 


73 

2 


J 

II 
I 

23 
43 

3 

2 

2 

46 

2 


33 


243 
1.350 


OBJECT  OF  EACH,  AT  THE  END  OF  THE  YEAR  1880. 


173 


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538 

133 

94 

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69 

289 

804 

202 

50 

5,821 

102 

74 

86 

26  ! 

37 

20 

49 

54 

9 

813 

249 

160 

138 

II I 

280 

162 

184 

634 

47 

3,028 

II 

4 

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9 

47 
27 

3 

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2 

8 

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19 

192 

54 

54 
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42 

59 

139 

404 

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34 

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2,181 

84 

0 

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I 

15 

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25 
4 

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2 

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71 

47 

88 

45 

45 

1,432 

1,269 

465 

4 

3-770 

9 

8 

4 

5 

6 

600 

733 

970 

I 

2,363 

1,179 

482 

472 

282 

499 

2,642 

3,461 

2,376 

121 

18,187 

92 

117 

67 

47 

109 

62 

135 

122 

S 

1,209 

I 

I 

I 

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13 

I 

I 

-» 

7 

7 

13 

13 

6 

I 

3 

2 

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85 
9 

46 

37 

17 

17 

18 

50 

94 

11 

II 

787 

95 

61 

I 

27 

42 

50 

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136 

I 

76 

171 

5 

894 

14 
12 

8 

34 

36 

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7 

8 

30 

19 

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301 

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7 

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27 

7 

200 

289 

269 

156 

121 

194 

274 

1 

366 

1 

335 

29 

3.582 

1,468 

751 

628 

403 

693 

2,916 

3.827 

2,711 

150 

21,769 

174        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS   OF    CHARITIES   AND    CORRECTION. 


The  entire  patrimony  possessed  by  all  these  charitable  organizations 
amounted  in  the  year  1880,  to  1,890,617,124  francs  ;  with  an  income 
from  the  same  and  from  other  sources,  often   including  appropriations 


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rt    rt  ^    ? 


bc; 


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o 


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a. 

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i£    M  ■=£., 


"1^  .-,  "o  1« 

*^  1—  ^  ^ 

^2  o  o  o 

j:;  fa  fa  fa 


•£  o 

o  o 

fa  fa 


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o  o 

fafa 


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fafal 


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1)  -^    lU 

o 


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bC  tn  A^ 

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fa      fa 


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as 
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H 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION. 


175 


by  the  towns  or  provinces,  of  135,133,850  francs;  as  indicated  in  the 
following  table : 


CO 

ZC 

C\  r^ 

r* 

>o 

0 

C7\ 

-T 

r^. 

or. 

^i 

"^O 

^ 

iv-l 

t>. 

0 

r^co  00 

mo 

0 

t^ 

T 

00 

rl-VO 

vC 

« 

r-i 

— 

coo 

CN 

LO 

00 

0 

CN 

t^ 

r-. 

r^ 

u-iCC 

l^ 

'T 

-1-vC 

0 

_ 

0 

0 

.. 

0 

LO 

r-» 

M 

0 

■a-  r^ 

.. 

rr 

1- 

ro 

Cl 

-i- 

ri 

00 

r^ 

ro 

M 

ON  ON 

00 

-    Cn 

r7\ 

ro 

G 

^ 

I^ 

— 

0  0 

r^ 

0     -T 

r» 

OS 

—    —    0  00  00    0\ 

0  0   M   r^ 

r^ 

0    TTO 

T 

M 

rO  r^OO    LTjvO  0 

0    LOCC    — 

— 

ro  Lo  — 

r^ 

►-    —    w  0    <^    ^ 

^  ro  no 

fTN 

n    —    M 

^j 

rj 

CnO    ro  0    t^  t- 

ci   <•(   -r  ro 

Cl 

1/-1  0  - 

r^ 

0 

t^  N    r^  ro  t^  — 

0    -^  rnzc 

0 

ro  'O  u-i 

r-^ 

CD 

0\  K*^        M    r^  ^ 

0    ^  r-~  f) 

r-^  00 

r^ 

0 

O   "^ 


O  Cn  —  M  f)  t-^ 
00  I-^  O  -^  ro 
—    On  t^  N  O    rr: 


iri  ro  O  —  O 
O  O  -f  LTi  « 
O    r^cc    0\  N 


0\  O    O    - 
CsoO    "^  O 


i^  Q\  Lo  10  r^  CI 
—  ro  00  P»  M 
N  —    O 

00  M 


O    r^O    t^  P* 

CO  o  c  o  -a- 

"^   —     M     — 


0\  ro  Cnco 
ro  "^  ro  — 


r^ 

00. 

u-i 

r^ 

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00 

N 

rr 

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0 

00 

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„ 

0 

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00 

c) 

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ro 

ro 

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tri 

0 

n 

•"* 

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— 

o 
o 


ON 
T 

q 
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O    0\0    ON  -^  -i- 

•^O    CO  On  "S-  O 

O     M     C)     CO   O     — 


r^  t^O   O   t^ 

<-l       t^     —       CO    Tj- 

CN  T   —     O     t-^ 


CO  to  VO  N 

t-    On  On  10 
10  uo  --^-o 


LOoO  —    10  10  r^ 

c^    O  —  CO   r^  O 

r^  —  M    ON  O    lO 

O    -         CO  t^ 
O  -r 

O 


O   M   -    On  - 
CO   r^  —   -^  10 

O    CO  —    ONOC 

CO  —     10  CO 

CO  - 

CO 


Tj-  U-)  cn  O 

CO  —     ONOO 
"T  On(C    CO 


CO 

ON 
10 

d 

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00 


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c 

c 

c 
z 

<; 


< 


On  CO  ci 
O    - 


~  10  ON 

CO 


r^  -^  rr  c<  00 

CO     ON  -     - 
t^OO 


-    -^  t^  o 
o  -   -   - 

CO 


o 
o 


0    lU    u 


o  — 
-   o 


<u  o 


■  V.    r.  .sz  — 


o 

a; 


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:£  "5  '-^  o  o 


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3     X 


>^  O   m   <*   *"   1- 


O  -r  "^O   r^       CO    o\  o   ►- 


^  a  1J 

3  «  rt    rt    s    1-  -" 

O  u  '/,    lu  •—  ~    rt 

r  =2  So 


CO  -t*  too 


1) 

to 

3 


in 
o 


Si 


O 


o 


as 
z 


176        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


The  patrimony  of  all  benevolent  institutions  has  considerably  in- 
creased throughout  the  country  from  1861  to  1880,  as  will  be  seen  from 
the  following  table,  which  gives  the  precise  amount  of  this  patrimony 
in  each  region  of  the  kingdom,  at  those  dates. 


o 

00 
00 


Q 
< 


00 


U3 

<; 

> 

a 

H 
b 

o 

Q 

z 

H 

H 
< 

% 

O 

u 


in 
m 
O 
a! 

O 

Q 
Z 

> 
Z 
O 
% 

a; 

< 

c« 

o 

a; 

o 


6 

1 

1 

.  °o 

0    t^CO    fl-rr-OrO:ONO"^i^          1          CO 

to   H 

4i  ►::    • 

*?*  "^  ^  -  -^^^  a\'-o     -00  t^  q^^c 

vO 

J3          1> 
•"    tn    S 

0  S  u 

i-O  iri  0 '    —    — ■    HH    ro  ►.'      ;    _■    pi'    Tj-  «. 

ON 

■O  CO   "^  >-0  r-^^O  CO  vo      ;   ^CO   "^  ^ 

LO 

0 

0  •" 

2  ^ 

N   rovD  \0"^N?<t^    -r<-iLni^>. 

O 

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W    [i< 

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ri   ^ 

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Per( 

EASE 

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o 

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1-               <J^ 

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O    "-I    ^*    ro  rovO    -.^  '^\0    "^  C^  lovC 

co^ 

1 

0 

CO 

0? 

0 

LOvO  CO    ►-  \0    T(-  r')  •-    — '  o    rnoo    r 

ro 

'        , 

C3 

OCO^CO    roro—    "*00    OO    r' 

-,                            ro 

M 

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— 

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m 

0 

«          C4    _    ...    _                        >. 

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LOSS 

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T                  r^ 

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r^C^O^O•— Ow"^    •pji^On'^ 

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1            K 

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T                               LT) 

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— 

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—    CO  t^  r^CO  VO    P)    —      •   o  ro  ''I 

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T                          "V 

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0 

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T                           NO_ 

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M  o'   tT  -"too  \o'  LTi  rf  t^   o'   tCvo"  CO 

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0 

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CHARITY    ORGANIZATION. 


177 


This  patrimony  in  1880  was  composed  of  real  estate  and  buildings  to 
the  value  of  888,794,891  francs;  and  of  government  bonds  and  notes 
of  credit,  amounting  to  1,001,825,233  francs. 

The  real  estate  and  buildings  in  1880  represented  an  average  through- 
out the  kingdom  of  50.32  per  cent,  of  the  whole  patrimony  ;  ranging 
from  a  maximum  of  71.86  per  cent,  in  the  Marches  to  a  minimum  of 
15.60  per  cent,  in  Tuscany. 

In  1 86 1  the  proportion  of  real  estate  was  50.91  per  cent,  of  the 
whole,  as  shown  by  the  following  table  : 


z 

0 

HI 

— ' 

^ 

< 

30 

_5 

» 

D 

— 

^ 

0 

Cl, 

fc.  J 

«  ^ 

0  < 

!::  0 

0 

^ 

i  2 

CO 

a  « 

CO 

0  P- 

"3  H 

H  U 

w  i3 

z 

:;  ^ 

U    or. 

CO 

a  as 

^  z 

&hO 

^  < 

in 

in 

y 

0 

Z 

-J 

< 

a 

— 

Zi 

^ 

, 

PQ 

o 

'^ 

a 

z 

3 

< 

^ 

< 

> 

z 

o 


a 


O    roi^r^—    0^0^0  fi    r^vO    ■-    <-i 

M    rovO    —    roco    M    O  -^  iJ-iO    C^  O 

O   fi    O    -^  coco    C^  fi  roO  cc    r^  f  1 

i-~-  o^cO    —  CO    O   m  t^  O    CNCC    M  c/5 

ro        n  M   0    N  rT  T?  c) 


N    O    T;fLO«    OvO"-    •^O'-o  rovO 
"^  rooo   ro  —  \0    N    N\0    -^00    ro^D 

rf  ro  •-0  Tt->0    "    t^vO   iri  i/^  Tt  —    ro 


w-ico   —    O  c/0    ^  r^  G\ 


t^co   M  CO    ON  f")  00    N 


00    O  r~.  r^ 


O 
00 

CO 


vO  t-^Tj-rOM  Tl-oO  O  —  "i-uOM 
Oni^  —  CO  rOCN"^00  0^0  r^" 
O  O    r^  t^  "-    "ICO  O    tJ-oo    Cl    Q\  on 

"^co  ^Oco  r^"^0  —  "-  ^MO 
t-^n    1-0  —  CO    r^roro—    n    i-    roc\ 

ir-,  _    —  00    —    C\  C\  —    rOO    —  O    f  1 


00    O  O    "-ovO  c/0    O   - 
LO  ri    o*  CO    tJ-  Tf  Cl    On 


:/3 


Cl    o   •- 

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o    10  Cl    00 

C)      r-c      un   Tj-    CTN 

10  COO    "^  Cl 


CO     « 


M  O    "-1  rJ-cO  o 
(^  ci  vO    Cl    ^    — 


O   CO  r^  — 
ON  O    ON  On 


O    t^  - 

On  CO  Cl 

Tfr?  J" 

CO  Cl 


CO 

u 
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> 

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T3    C 


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1)    rt    rt    J5  << 

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CO 
Cl 

CN 

LO 

-3- 


o 


6 
>-o 


On 

CO 


CO 
C/O 
CO 


Cl 

NO 
NO 


o 


u 

1 

U 

NO 

> 

0 

OC 

Ph 

0 

g 

*^ 

rt 

— 

p 

<u 

"-^ 

u 

Cl 

-/ 

Cf; 

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u 

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3 

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V.H 

0 

i          Cl 

u 

> 

0 

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1         -^ 

M 

3 

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0 

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0 

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ll> 

0 

X) 

tn 

1> 

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4) 

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0 

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rt 

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> 

> 

0 

0 

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c< 

2- 

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0 

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12 


lyS        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

The  amount  of  capital  invested  in  government  bonds  (placing  them 
at  their  nominal  value),  increased  from  132,798,521  francs  in  1861,  to 
454,929,798  francs  in  1880;  the  latter  including,  however,  the  province 
of  Rome,  whose  charitable  organizations  in  the  latter  year  held  bofads 
to  the  amount  of  27,920,261  francs. 

The  increase  of  this  kind  of  investment  between  1861  and  18S0  has 
been  322  millions  of  francs.  The  largest  increase  took  place  in  Lom- 
bardy,  Sardinia,  Piedmont  and  Emilia. 

Amount  of  Capital  invested  in  Government  Bonds. 

1861.  .    1880. 

Regions.  Francs.  Francs. 

Piedmont 25,014,910  108,466,201 

Lombardy 17,094,389  79,902,420 

Venetian  Provinces : 12,883,920  31,258,201 

Liguria 9,370,474  27,743,949 

Emilia 5,228,431  21,050,935 

Marches 932,806  3,284,718 

Tuscany 15,775,946  44,211,915 

Umbria 922,245  2,682,633 

Rome  and  Provinces 27,920,261 

Campania 22,556,855  44,674,927 

Other  Neapolitan  Provinces 5)656,555  i7)733»295 

Sicily 16,928,077  44,128,513 

Sardinia 413,913  1,871,830 

Kingdom 132,778,521  454,929,798 

One  of  the  things  most  criticized  by  the  commission,  and  one  for 
which  a  new  law  seemed  especially  necessary,  was  with  regard  to  the 
excessive  expense  of  administration,  the  heavy  taxation,  and  other 
burdens. 

The  total  amount  of  these,  in  some  cases,  represented  a  conspicuous 
part  of  the  income.  In  1880  these  three  items  alone  amounted  to 
38,985,393  francs  (43.29  per  cent,  of  the  total),  which,  deducted  from 
the  whole  income  (135,133,850),  leaves  96,148,455  francs,  to  be  dis- 
posed of  for  charities. 

Of  this  sum,  only  84,516,283  francs  are  available  for  actual  charitable 
purposes;   3,907,903  francs  being  for  religious  purposes  in  connection 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  I  79 

with  the  institutions  of  benevolence,  and  6,296,425  for  exclusively  reli- 
gious objects  {spese  di  ailto),  the  latter  representing  7.45  per  cent,  of 
the  entire  sum  expended  for  charities.  This  proportion  varies  greatly  in 
the  different  provinces.  Out  of  every  100  francs  expended  for  benevo- 
lence in  Piedmont,  2.93  per  cent,  is  for  religious  objects  solely;  in 
Lombardy,  4.42  per  cent.;  in  Tuscany,  5.19  per  cent.;  in  Rome  and 
provinces,  6.26  percent.  The  greatest  proportion  is  in  Southern  Italy, 
being  36.16  per  cent,  in  Campania,  and  18.01  per  cent,  in  Sicily. 

With  regard  to  the  institutions  for  the  distribution  of  alms,  we  are  in 
position  to  give  with  accuracy  the  number  of  persons  benefited  by  them, 
which  in  1887  amounted  to  769,809  for  the  entire  kingdom,  out  of  a 
population  estimated  December  31st,  1886,  at   29,942,142  inhabitants. 

The  amount  distributed  by  the  same  institutions  for  charitable  pur- 
poses in  the  same  year  reached  the  sum  of  10,995,425  francs.  The 
greater  part  of  this  amount  was  furnished  by  the  larger  cities  and  towns, 
as  would  be  naturally  supposed.  The  number  of  persons  aided  by 
them  averages  26  for  every  1,000  inhabitants  throughout  the  kingdom. 
If  we  make  comparison  with  other  countries  of  Europe,  we  find  in  Ger- 
many,* in  1885,  an  average  of  34  individuals  for  every  1,000  inhabi- 
tants, who  received  aid  in  the  same  way. 

In  France,  t  in  1886,  the  bureaux  de  bienfaisance  gave  help  to 
1,440,746  persons,  in  a  total  population  (according  to  the  census  of 
1886,)  of  38,218,903  inhabitants,  which  would  make  an  average  of 
38  for  every  1,000. 

In  England  and  Wales,  this  proportion  is  represented  by  22  for  every 
1,000  in  the  year  1886,  594,522  poor  people  having  received  aid,  out 
of  a  population  of  27,499,044  inhabitants.  These  comparisons,  how- 
ever, have  only  a  limited  value,  as  it  is  impossible  to  know  in  all  cases 
whether  there  were  duplications  in  the  persons  aided  by  the  same 
institution,  or  by  others,  during  the  same  year. 

If  then  we  make  a  comparison  with  regard  to  the  average  amount  dis- 
tributed per  individual,  we  have  in  Italy  an  average  of  15  francs  for 
every  person  aided.  In  France  this  same  average,  in  1886,  was  about 
20  francs,  the  bureaux  de  bienfaisance  having  distributed  the  sum  of 
30'375)2i9  francs  among  1,440,744  persons.  This  comparison  we  can- 
not  extend   to   Germany  and   England,  because  in  the  institutions  of 

*  V.   Statistische  Jahrbuch  fiir  das  Deutsche  Keich  fiir  1888. 
t  V.   Annuaire  Siaiisiique,  1886. 


I  So        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

these  countries,  the  amounts  distributed  by  this  kind  of  institutions  are 
not  given  separately,  but  are  included  in  the  general  sum  of  charities 
dispensed  by  various  benevolent  institutions. 

As  we  have  indicated  above,  the  towns  and  provinces,  by  making  a 
yearly  appropriation,  contribute  more  or  less  to  the  support  of  the  hospi- 
tals, insane  asylums,  orphanages,  and  other  benevolent  institutions  of 
which  we  have  already  spoken.  These  appropriations  by  the  towns  and 
provinces,  for  the  year  1889,  amounted  to  20,273,500  francs  for  the 
latter,  and  to  42,683,917  for  the  former,  making  a  total  of  62,957,414 
francs.* 

Expenditures  for  Charities  by  the  Provinces  and  Towns  during 

THE    YEAR     1889. 


Regions. 


Expenditures    Expenditures 

by  the         \         by  the 


Provinces. 
Francs. 


Piedmont 

Liguria 

Lombardy 

Venetian  Provinces 

Emilia 

Tuscany 

Marches , 

Perugia — Umbria. , 

Rome  and  Provinces 

Campania 

Other  Neapolitan  Provinces. 

Sicily 

Sardinia 

Kingdom 20,273,500 


Towns. 
Francs. 


42,683,917 


Total. 
Francs. 


2,294,226 

2,472,662 

4,766,888 

877,710 

1,276,863 

2,154,573 

3,190,696 

6,626,627 

9,817,323 

2,241,851 

5,969,444 

8,211,295 

2,122,339 

4,165,424 

6,287,763 

1,752,111 

4,669,275 

6,421,386 

682,680 

1,993,109 

2,675,789 

382,630 

1,208,556 

1,591,186 

845,018 

3'6o9,o55 

4,454,073 

1,605,924 

2,582,714 

4,188,638 

2,345,162 

4,313,858 

6,659,020 

1,846,103 

3,159,622 

5,005^25 

87,050 

636,708 

723,758 

62,957,417 


About  half  of  the  above  total  amount  is  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  sick,  insane,  and  foundlings,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following 
statistics : 


*  In  the  year  1891  the  provinces  alone  contributed  20,724,960  francs. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  l8l 

Appropriations  by  the  Towns  in   1889. 

F7-ancs . 
For  salaries  for  physicians,  surgeons  and  midwives  12,851,542 

For  general  sanitary  service 7)755>984 

For  the  maintenance  of  foundlings 4,834,178 

For  contributions  to  hospitals 4,758,164 

To  homes  for  the  poor  and  infirm 2,768,127 

Subsidies  to  the  poor  in  general 3,071,471 

Appropriations  by  the  Provinces  in  1889. 

Francs. 

For  the  maintenance  of  insane  poor 10,730,766 

For  the  maintenance  of  foundlings 6,592,093 

For  contributions  to  the  poorhouses,  to  colleges,  hospi- 
tals, deaf  and  dumb  asylums,  and  other  benevolent 
institutions 2,076,435 

These  appropriations  are  for  the  greater  part*  included  in  the  gross 
income  of  all  the  charitable  institutions,  as  already  given,  and  do  not 
constitute  an  addition  to  the  amount  of  that  income,  as  above  referred 
to. 

Of  late  years  the  number  of  legacies  and  of  new  institutions  for 
charitable  purposes  has  considerably  increased,  as  will  be  seen  by  the 
following  statistics,  published  by  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  in  Rome. 

From  1 88 1  to  1891,  inclusive,  the  new  foundations  and  legacies 
amounted  to  11,715  with  a  total  patrimony  or  capital  of  186,751,696 
francs,  of  which  84,543,103  is  represented  by  real  estate  and  buildings, 
and  102,206,593  by  other  property. 

The  average  increase  in  the  eleven  years,  1881-1891,  of  the  patri- 
mony has  been  about  17  millions  per  year. 

The  new  institutions  founded  during  this  period  were  940,  represent- 
ing altogether  a  capital  of  75,184,934  francs,  the  remaining  amount 
being  represented  by  legacies  or  donations  to  institutions  already  exist- 
ing. 

The  largest  sums  were  given  in  Lombardy  (42  millions),  Piedmont 
{42  millions)  and  Liguria  (36  millions). 

Next  come  the  Emilian  provinces  with  about  12  millions,  the  Venetian 
provinces  with  10  millions,  and  Campania  with  about  9  millions,  etc., 
etc. 

*The  salaries  of  district  phj'siciaiis  would  not,  for  example,  be  included. 


l82        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

With  regard  to  the  kinds  of  institutions,  the  hospitals  received  the 
largest  amount  of  donations  (62,030,545  francs)  and  next  came  the 
poorhouses  with  new  donations  amounting  to  21,078,972  francs;  day 
nurseries  and  kindergartens  with  19,709,167  francs;  orphanages 
and  colleges  with  18,233,507,  institutions  for  distributing  alms  with 
27,782,194  francs. 

Having  examined  the  various  institutions  of  the  kingdom  somewhat 
in  detail,  with  their  respective  patrimonies,  let  us  now  consider  the  new 
law  of  1890  in  its  relation  to  them. 

The  institutions  of  charity  coming  under  this  new  law,  are  best  defined 
by  quoting  from  the  law  itself. 

Art.  I.  All  institutions  which  render  assistance  to  the  poor,  both  in 
the  state  of  health  and  sickness. 

II.  Those  which  provide  for  their  education,  or  instruction  in  some 
profession,  art  or  trade,  or  which  tend  to  better  their  moral  or  economi- 
cal condition. 

III.  Savings  banks  and  co-operative  institutions. 

One  of  the  most  important  changes  introduced  by  the  new  law  was 
with  reference  to  the  so-called  '■'■  Congregations  of  Charity  '  {^Congrega- 
zione  di  Carita. )  These  existed  under  the  old  law  and  were  to  be  found 
in  every  city  or  town,  being  a  sort  of  associated  charities  under  which 
were  included  all  small  local  charities  derived  from  bequests,  which  had 
been  left  to  the  care  of  the  town  instead  of  to  separate  executors  or 
trustees.  Besides  these,  there  was  still  a  large  number  of  charitable 
organizations,  which  were  managed  independently,  resulting  in  much 
unnecessary  expense,  a  large  part  of  their  incomes  being  consumed  in 
their  administration.  On  the  contrary,  under  the  new  law,  all  such 
institutions,  whose  income  did  not  exceed  5,000  francs  each  per  annum, 
became  included  in  the  Congregation  of  Charity.  By  thus  simplifying 
the  administration,  the  expenses  are  greatly  reduced,  leaving  a  much 
larger  available  income  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  destined.  Not 
only  these,  but  other  institutions  of  charity  were  included,  the  terms  of 
whose  bequests  could  no  longer  be  fulfilled  owing  to  the  changed  con- 
ditions of  society  ;  for  instance,  those  for  the  liberation  of  captives  taken 
by  pirates  in  the  middle  ages  ;  those  established  for  shelter  of  pilgrims 
coming  to  Rome,  rendered  now  quite  unnecessary  by  hotels  and  other 
places  of  accommodation.  Funds  left  for  the  outfit  of  poor  nuns  on 
entering  a  convent  also  found  a  place  here,  /.  e.  before  1870,  after  which 
date  convents  and  other  religious  organizations  underwent  a  complete 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  1 83 

change ;  also  money  left  to  minister  to  those  condemned  to  death, 
capital  punishment  being  now  abolished. 

The  administrators  of  these  associated  charities*  are  appointed  by  the 
city  council,  one-fourth  of  them  being  changed  every  year,  and  are 
responsible  to  it ;  thus  many  of  the  abuses  which  existed  under  the 
old  regivie,  when  they  were  controlled  largely  by  priests,  especially 
in  the  small  towns,  are  avoided. 

Under  the  new  law,  all  institutions  of  chartiy,  whether  included 
in  the  Congregazione  di  Carita,  or  not,  are  obliged  to  keep  an  exact 
account  or  inventory  of  everything  pertaining  to  them,  and  render  a 
financial  report  each  year  to  the  proper  governmental  authorities.  The 
trustees  or  administrators  who  neglect  to  fulfil  this  duty  cannot  be  re- 
elected for  a  second  term,  and  no  one  can  be  appointed  as  director  or 
superintendent  of  an  institution  of  benevolence,  whose  position  or  office 
is  incompatible  with  its  best  interests. 

Under  the  new  law  an  opportunity  is  also  given  for  observation  and 
criticism  by  the  general  public,  the  government  authorities  offering  to 
try  any  case  at  their  own  expense  on  the  deposit  of  security  by  the 
plaintiff. 

Upon  the  Minister  of  the  Interior  devolves  the  general  oversight  of 
the  work  as  to  the  general  condition  of  each  institution,  and  as  to 
whether  it  is  conducted  in  accordance  with  its  own  statutes  and  regula- 
tions, and  in  accordance  with  the  law. 

For  one  to  receive  the  benefits  of  charitable  work,  he  must  have  lived 
more  than  five  years  in  the  town  where  he  is  asking  help,  or  have  been 
born  in  the  town,  without  regard  to  legitimacy  of  birth. 

The  above  are  the  main  points  of  interest  in  the  new  law  regulating 
charities,  which  was  heartily  welcomed  by  all  serious  minded  people, 
as  abuses  had  become  very  great  under  the  former  system.  Thou- 
sands of  institutions  of  very  small  income  allowed  themselves  a  very 
large  number  of  managers,  with  high  salaries  and  a  right  to  pension 
their  widows  and  children;  while  many  hospitals,  worth  millions,  em- 
ployed the  larger  part  of  their  income  in  the  same  extravagant  and 
expensive  administration,  instead  of  for  the  needy  sick  or  poor. 

We  can  easily  see  how,  by  all  this  mismanagement,  begging  and 
indiscriminate  almsgiving  were  increased  and  encouraged,  especially  as 
no  effort  was  made  to  educate  the  poor  to  a  sense  of  self-dependence. 

*  Women  too  mav  be  elected  to  this  office. 


184        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

If  the  ancient  benevolence  of  the  middle  ages  was  the  giving  of  alms, 
modern  charity  is  work  and  education.  The  latter,  however,  is  no 
less  prompted  by  the  heart,  but  rather  the  heart  is  guided  by  a  greater 
intelligence  and  deeper  appreciation  of  the  needs  of  the  poor  man,  who 
should  not  be  encouraged  in  idleness  and  improvidence,  thus  rendering 
him  an  object  of  envy  to  the  man  who  works;  but  true  charity  should 
be  preventive  and  should  help  him  to  help  himself. 

The  new  law  of  public  charities  is  imbued  with  this  spirit  and  we 
may  sanguinely  expect  great  and  lasting  results  from  its  execution, 
results  which  will  be  felt  more  and  more  as  the  years  go  by,  and  will  help 
to  raise  the  poor  and  degraded  classes  into  a  state  of  greater  self-de- 
pendence and  usefulness. 

Vide:  "Atti  della  Commissione  d'Inchiesta  delle  Opere  Pie."  Ronia^  1889-90. 
Tipografia  Nazionale.     (g  Volumes.) 

"Statistica  delle  Opere  Pie  of  31  Dicembre,  1880,  e  dei  lasciti  di  bene- 
ficeiiza  fatti  iiegli  Anni  1881-91."  Roma.  Tipografia  Nazionale 
(10  Volumes.) 

"La  Beiieficenza  Romana  dagli  aiitichi  tempi  fino  ad  oggi."  Studio 
storico  critico  dell'Avvocato  Quirino  Querini.  Roma,  1892.  Tipogra- 
fia Tiberina.     (i    Volume.) 

Rivista  di  Beneficenza,  edita  in  Roma  e  diretta  dal  Comre.  G.  Scotti. 

"La  Riforma  della  Beneficenza,"  an  article  by  P.  Villari,  published  in 
the  Ahiova  Antologia  of  May,   1890. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  1 85 


THE    INTERNATIONAL    TREATMENT    OF    CHARITY 

QUESTIONS. 

BY    BARON    VON     REITZENSTEIN,     FREIBURG,    GERMANY. 

[AN   ABSTRACT   OF    THE    PAPER   SUBMITTED  TO  THE   FIRST  SECTION   OF  THE   CONGRESS.] 

The  growth  of  internationalism  as  a  theory  and  an  ideal  force  in  the 
treatment  of  charity  problems  is  first  contrasted  with  the  limitations  of 
nationalism,  as  shown  in  legislation  having  in  view  the  circumstances  of 
a  single  country,  in  the  narrowing  sphere  of  questions  to  be  discussed, 
in  the  larger  number  of  men  of  practice  chosen  into  the  commissions  as 
opposed  to  men  of  theory,  and  finally  in  the  waiting  attitude  assumed 
by  the  Paris  Congress  of  1889  towards  the  question  of  the  systematic 
organization  of  charities  on  an  international  basis.  The  International 
Congress  of  Charities  now  to  assemble  in  Chicago  will  find  this  open 
question  awaiting  its  consideration.  A  solution  can  be  reached  only 
through  a  study  of  the  systems  prevailing  in  single  countries  together 
with  their  conditions  and  limitations.  The  further  question,  whether 
such  existing  systems  may  be  transplanted  to  other  countries,  or  univer- 
sally applied,  forms  a  second  stage  of  the  general  inquiry. 

The  French,  Italian,  English,  American  and  German  systems  are 
then  compared.  The  test  to  each  system  is  applied  in  the  question  : 
What  has  been  done  to  counteract  and  overcome  the  defects  and  limi- 
tations of  national  and  local  administration  of  public  charities?  Very 
high  praise  is  awarded  to  the  English-American  charity  organization 
societies  as  a  corrective  from  the  point  of  view  of  charities  privately 
organized,  but  the  German  (Elberfeld)  system  is  given  the  highest  place 
among  existing  methods,  as  a  successful  development  along  the  line  of 
public  (State)  charities,  but  also  as  placing  the  administration  of  charity 
where  it  properly  belongs,  in  the  hands  of  the  township,  while  making 
the  freest  use  of  the  unpaid  services  of  responsible  private  citizens.  The 
charity  organization  societies  represent  a  healthy  reaction  among 
private  circles,  and  have  shown  that  they  are  able  to  organize  and 
centralize  already  existing  private  efforts,  and  to  extend  and  individ- 
ualize the  benefits  of  charity;  but  they  by  no  means  supply  the  place 
of  the  Elberfeld  system,  nor  does  their  existence  preclude  the  possibility 


1 86        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

that  the  Eli)erfeld  system  may  be  found  available  for  other  countries 
than  Germany,  Austria  and  German  Switzerland.  In  the  first  place,  a 
public  administration  of  charities  (/.  e.  one  controlled  by  State  and 
local  authority)  offers  a  better  guarantee  of  stability  than  the  fluctuating 
views  of  private  associations;  but  it  is  particularly  in  the  open  country, 
away  from  the  large  cities,  that  the  greater  organic  usefulness  of  the 
Elberfeld  system  is  seen,  fixed  as  it  is  upon  the  basis  of  local  adminis- 
tration and  with  responsible  citizens  called  in  as  aids. 

America  is  peculiarly  fortunate  in  possessing  the  township  system,  and 
were  it  not  for  the  fear  of  political  corruption  a  system  similar  to  the 
German  could  be  applied.  The  author  recommends  the  point  of  view 
of  Professor  Peabody,  in  approaching  this  part  of  the  question. 

The  educating  influence  of  the  charity  organization  societies  upon 
the  circles  of  society  engaged  in  the  work  is  rated  very  high.  Here 
the  powers  are  to  be  schooled  which  may  afterwards  be  used  in  the 
administration  of  public  charities,  and  the  charity  organization  socie- 
ties may  from  this  point  of  view  be  regarded  as  a  movement  of  transition 
towards  a  system  similar  to  the  German. 

The  author,  in  closing,  admits  Germany's  urgent  need  of  a  systematic 
organization  of  private  charities,  as  supplementing  the  system  of  state 
charities,  and  recommends  to  his  countrymen  the  study  of  the  charity 
organization  movement  in  England  and  America. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  187 


THE    ELBERFELD    SYSTEM    OF    POOR    RELIEF. 

BY  DR.  THEODORE  MUNSTEREERG,  OF  HAMBURG. 

[TRANSLATION.] 

L 

In  Germany,  except  in  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  the  care  of  the  poor  is 
recognized  as  a  duty  devolving  upon  the  public  authorities.  This  was 
felt  to  be  a  public  duty  in  the  various  German  states  even  before  the 
foundation  of  the  Empire.  At  that  time,  however,  each  state  was 
entirely  independent  of  the  others  in  the  matter  of  charities;  so  that 
the  same  kind  of  poor  relief  was  not  given  to  persons  coming  from 
another  state  as  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  state  itself.  When  the  Ger- 
man Empire  was  founded,  the  principle  was  laid  down  that  the  inhabi- 
tants of  all  the  states  which  belonged  to  the  Empire,  were  citizens  of 
the  Empire  and  were  entitled  to  the  same  privileges  in  all  the  different 
states.  The  origin  of  this  relation  was  the  recognition  at  that  time  of 
the  general  right  of  free  domicile  for  all  citizens  of  the  German  Empire, 
and  it  is  of  the  greatest  economic  importance.  Its  effect  upon  the  poor 
laws  was  also  considerable,  inasmuch  as  it  not  only  permitted  a  man  to 
change  his  residence  and  practise  his  trade  in  his  new  home,  but  it  com- 
pelled the  state  in  which  he  had  settled  to  undertake  his  support  should 
he  in  any  way  become  a  pauper. 

This  duty  of  taking  care  of  the  poor  [Annenpflege')  was  not,  however, 
imposed  directly  upon  the  states  or  the  state  officials.  It  was  committed 
in  the  course  of  its  historical  development  entirely  to  the  civil  com- 
munes (^Gemeindeti).  The  old  principle,  that  each  commune  must  take 
care  of  its  own  poor,  was  extended,  so  that  help  must  be  given  to  any 
German  who  has  lived  for  two  consecutive  years  within  the  limits  of  a 
commune.  But  in  order  that  communes,  with  which  indigent  persons 
have  not  established  close  relations  by  a  residence  of  over  two  years, 
may  not  be  unjustly  burdened,  the  State,  or  a  large  district  determined 
by  it,  assumes  the  care  of  those  who  have  not  been  residents  of  any 
commune  for  a  period  of  at  least  two  years. 

A  pauper  has  no  legal  claim  corresponding  to  the  duty  of  relief,  a 
duty  which,  indeed,  is  imposed  by  the  arbitrary  action  of  the  individual 
citizen  himself  in  his  voluntary  choice  of  residence.     Only  state  officials, 


1 88        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

appointed  to  supervise  the  affairs  of  the  communes,  are  authorized  to 
use  forcible  measures  to  hold  a  commune  to  the  performance  of  this 
duty.  A  cardinal  principle  of  the  German  poor  laws  is  that  no 
citizen  of  the  German  Empire,  who  is  in  distress,  no  matter  to  what 
state  or  commune  he  may  belong,  shall  remain  without  such  help  as 
may  be  necessary  to  maintain  him.  For  this  reason  it  is  provided  that 
the  commune  in  which  a  pauper  is  residing  must  in  case  of  need  at  once 
furnish  temporary  relief,  without  regard  to  the  question  whether  the 
responsibility  rests  on  it  alone. 

The  principle  of  law  in  regard  to  the  duty  of  the  commune  with 
reference  to  the  care  of  the  poor,  which  rests  on  the  fact  of  residence,  is 
purely  a  financial  one.  Its  object  is  to  equalize  and  distribute  accruing 
expenses  as  much  as  possible  among  the  different  communes.  The 
extent  and  nature  of  the  relief  is,  however,  entirely  independent  of  any 
financial  question,  and  must  be  bestowed  impartially  upon  every  person 
in  every  part  of  every  commune. 

Nevertheless  this  principle  is  rather  an  ideal  general  principle  of 
law,  than  one  which  can  be  universally  put  into  practice.  For  the 
law  rests  on  an  assumption  which  is  not  in  fact  true,  namely,  that  the 
communes  of  the  German  Empire  are  in  all  respects  alike.  But  in 
reality  they  are  alike  only  in  their  political  position  and  by  no  means 
so  in  their  extent  and  resources.  The  realization  of  the  principle 
of  giving  the  same  sort  of  relief  to  the  poor  everywhere  is  essentially 
dependent  upon  the  extent  and  resources  of  the  communes.  It  is 
quite  evident  that  a  little  village  with  two  or  three  hundred  inhabi- 
tants must  have  a  system  of  poor  relief  entirely  different  from  those 
of  great  cities  like  Berlin  and  Hamburg.  So  poor  relief  must  be  very 
different  in  purely  agricultural  regions  from  what  it  is  in  municipal 
communes,  and  a  poor  commune  must  maintain  a  different  system  from 
that  of  a  rich  one. 

It  is  important  to  make  these  brief  remarks  in  the  beginning,  because 
only  with  them  in  mind  is  it  possible  to  understand  how  efforts  in 
the  sphere  of  poor  relief,  not  only  in  Germany,  but  throughout  the  world, 
have  been  guided  not  so  much  by  prescribed  laws  as  by  the  force  of 
circumstances. 

So  that,  without  regard  to  the  law,  there  is  a  much  greater  resemblance 
between  the  efforts  in  New  York  and  Berlin  for  the  solution  of  the  pauper 
question  than  between  those  of  a  small  German  village  and  those  of 
Berlin.     For,  with  or  without  law,  no  great  city  can  suffer  a  part  of  its 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  189 

population  to  remain  in  a  state  of  pauperism;  and.  with  or  without  law, 
it  will  look  for  the  same  kinds  of  remedies  to  meet  the  existing  distress. 
Of  course  national  customs  and  political  events  alter  the  situation;  yet 
the  tendency  remains  essentially  the  same. 

The  chief  characteristic  of  this  tendency  is  the  effort  which  is  made 
to  relieve  the  helpless  person  in  such  a  manner  that  his  bodily  need — 
lack  of  food,  clothing,  shelter,  etc. — may  be  supplied.  In  order  to 
insure  such  relief,  it  is  necessary  first  of  all  to  have  societies  which 
will  consider  the  necessities  of  different  cases  as  they  arise,  and  will 
select  the  most  appropriate  methods  for  relieving  distress.  The 
larger  the  community,  the  greater  is  the  need  for  such  societies; 
the  greater  the  number  of  societies,  the  greater  is  the  difficulty  ex- 
perienced in  the  methodical  and  practical  direction  of  their  efforts. 
This  is  illustrated  by  the  contrast  between  a  large  city  and  a  rural 
community.  In  the  latter  every  one  knows  every  one  else,  and  knows 
exactly  to  what  extent  they  need  relief.  But  it  frequently  happens 
in  small  communities  that  the  means  are  lacking  for  the  relief  of 
distress.  There  may  be,  for  example,  a  lack  of  proper  hospitals,  prac- 
tised surgeons,  etc.  In  a  large  city,  on  the  other  hand,  one  citizen 
knows  practically  nothing  in  regard  to  the  affairs  of  others,  while  the 
means  for  alleviating  suffering  are  numerous.  A  bad  system  of  chari- 
ties often  exists  in  a  small  community,  therefore,  because  of  the  lack  of 
suitable  appliances;  in  a  large  city,  because  of  a  lack  of  organization 
which  prevents  a  proper  use  of  existing  resources.  So  it  is  compara- 
tively easy  to  help  a  small  community,  because  it  is  only  a  matter  of 
money.  But  in  a  great  city,  one  dare  not  be  too  hopeful,  because 
there  the  chief  c|uestion  is  "Organization." 

II. 

Organization  !  This  is  the  magic  word  which  alone  can  solve  the 
difficult  problems  of  poor  relief.  Without  proper  organization  every 
charitable  movement  must  remain  incomplete  and  unsatisfactory,  and 
will  be  often  hurtful  rather  than  helpful.  P'or  the  financial,  moral  and' 
economic  results  of  poor  relief  do  not  depend  solely  upon  the  laying 
down  of  certain  universal  principles,  but  c^uite  as  much  upon  the  consider- 
ation and  treatment  of  each  individual  case  which  may  come  to  light. 
Not  only  is  it  a  question  of  finding  out  the  extent  and  nature  of  the  needs 
of  individual  cases,  but  it  is  much  more  important  that  the  manifold  causes 
which  bring  about  their  unhealthy  condition  be  studied  and  determined. 


igo        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

The  variety  of  unfortunate  and  painful  mental  and  bodily  conditions 
through  which  a  man  must  pass  to  reach  the  level  of  a  pauper  is  simply 
without  limit.  And  as  every  individual  differs  from  every  other  in  his 
manner  of  life,  and  in  his  capacity  for  making  a  living  according  to  his 
moral,  mental  and  physical  endowments,  so  a  man  requires  such  treat- 
ment as  will  correspond  exactly  to  his  wants,  and  to  the  particular 
circumstances  which  give  rise  to  his  need.  It  is  not  sufficient  to  recog- 
nize this  as  applicable  to  any  one  particular  case  or  occasion,  or  to  bestow 
a  single  gift  only.  There  must  be  a  continuing  acquaintance  with 
and  study  of  the  cases,  and  a  continuous  prosecution  of  the  work  among 
the  poor.  For  relief  must  neither  stop  arbitrarily  nor  be  kept  up 
through  caprice  or  carelessness  longer  than  is  really  necessary. 

But  to  keep  up  study  and  oversight  of  this  kind  in  a  really  effective 
way  is  possible  only  by  securing  a  large  body  of  persons  who  are  willing 
and  capable  of  doing  this  kind  of  work.  In  other  words,  there  must 
always  be  two  classes,  those  who  receive  and  those  who  give  ;  and  the 
latter  must  be  perfectly  familiar  with  their  work  and  with  the  conditions 
which  surround  the  poorer  classes,  so  that  they  may  know  how  to  direct 
their  gifts  in  such  a  manner  that  they  may  do  most  good. 

Such  are  the  true  functions  of  systematic  poor  relief.  To  regulate  its 
activity,  to  establish  co-operation  of  the  right  sort  on  correct  princi- 
ples, this  is  the  task  of  organization. 

The  numerous  systems  which  underlie  charity  organization  in  no  way 
recognize  this  universal  and  fundamental  requirement.  For  a  demand 
for  individualization  is  everywhere  heard.  It  is  found  in  the  charities 
of  the  old  Christian  societies  and  in  those  of  the  medieval  church, 
no  less  than  in  the  schemes  of  the  end  of  the  last  century,  which  were 
due  to  the  rise  of  the  spirit  of  enlightenment.  Still  we  are  met 
with  the  complaint  now,  as  formerly,  that  poor  relief  is  both  inade- 
quate and  expensive  that  the  claims  of  the  poor  are  on  the  increase, 
and  that  in  many  cases  deserving  persons  are  not  properly  cared  for. 
And  when  these  complaints  become  too  loud  and  the  traces  of  misman- 
agement  too  evident,  an  attempt  is  always  made  to  improve  the  con- 
dition of  things. 

It  is  not  possible  to  consider  the  history  of  such  attempts  at  this 
point.  Only  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  everywhere  this  striking 
fact  appears,  that  in  small  communities  there  is  usually  a  lack  of 
means,  and  occasionally  also  a  lack  of  inclination  to  employ  them  ; 
while  in  the  larger  communities,  as  a  rule,  the  lack  of  system  is  what  is 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  IQl 

chiefly  to  be  deplored.  I'hus  every  attempt  at  improvement  leads 
immediately  back  to  the  question  of  proper  organization,  of  an  organi- 
zation which  will  correspond  to  the  cardinal  principle  of  good,  healthy 
poor  relief,  namely,  the  principle  of  individualization. 

To  the  German  city  of  Elberfeld  belongs  the  honor  of  bringing  this 
principle  again  to  life,  and  of  having  carried  it  out  in  a  model  manner. 
The  Elberfeld  system,  which  was  established  by  an  ordinance  passed  on 
the  ninth  of  July,  1852,  and  has  therefore  been  in  use  for  forty  years,  has 
met  with  universal  approval,  and  now  stands  as  the  type  of  a  good  and 
appropriate  system  of  poor  relief. 

The  following  are  its  most  essential  principles  : 

{a)  The  whole  city  is  so  divided  into  precincts  {^Quartiere)  that  usu- 
•ally  there  are  not  more  than  four  paupers  within  the  limits  of  any  pre- 
cinct. When  one  precinct  is  overburdened,  relief  is  obtained  by  dis- 
tributing a  number  of  paupers  among  those  less  heavily  burdened. 
An  overseer  of  the  poor  is  appointed  for  each  district.  The  overseer 
is  the  most  important  agent  in  the  relief  of  the  poor.  He  has  to  visit 
the  poor  in  his  district  at  least  once  in  fourteen  days,  to  acquaint 
himself  with  their  circumstances,  especially  as  to  the  existence  of  prop- 
erty or  income  from  other  sources,  from  labor,  etc.,  to  record  the 
results  of  his  investigations,  and  to  act  as  an  educator  to  the  needy  and 
the  members  of  their  families.  He  must  be  the  friend  and  adviser  of 
the  poor,  but  must  strictly  require  good  behavior  and  order ;  and  it  is 
especially  his  duty  to  bring  vicious  and  idle  persons  before  the  police 
courts. 

{b)  The  precincts  are  united  into  districts  {Bezirke),  and  each  dis- 
trict is  put  under  the  direction  of  a  district  chairman  (^Bezirksvorsteher). 
The  executive  body  of  a  district  is  the  district  board  {Bezirksversamm- 
lung),  which  consists  of  the  district  chairman  and  all  the  active  over- 
seers of  the  district.  One  of  the  essential  points  of  the  system  is,  that 
all  the  overseers  participate  in  the  deliberations  concerning  what  aid 
shall  be  given,  and  only  such  aid  is  given  as  is  decided  upon  in  joint 
consultation. 

This  is  an  important  step  in  advance  of  the  older  systems.  Formerly 
wherever  the  plan  was  adopted  of  having  districts  and  overseers,  the 
latter  were  merely  reporters,  while  the  final  decision  remained  entirely 
with  an  executive  board  to  which  they  reported.  In  the  Elberfeld 
system  they  constitute  the  executive  body  ;  thus  their  interest  in  the 
cases  which  present  themselves  in  the  districts  is  considerably  strength- 


192        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

ened,  and  the  feeling  of  personal  responsibility  heightened.  They 
learn  to  appreciate  more  fully  the  varied  nature  of  the  work,  because 
they  are  not  limited  to  an  acquaintance  with  their  own  cases,  but  also 
learn  from  every  case  in  the  district  which  is  brought  up  for  discus- 
sion. The  meetings  foster  a  spirit  of  neighborly  harmony  and  give  rise 
to  varied  personal  relations  among  the  members,  who  otherwise  might 
remain  unknown  to  one  another.  And  the  meetings  are  of  direct  ben- 
efit to  the  work  itself,  for  frequently  more  than  one  of  the  overseers 
know  the  circumstances  and  reputation  of  a  pensioner ;  and,  at  any 
rate,  the  general  discussion  of  the  various  domestic  and  social  relations 
which  come  up  for  consideration  is  more  thorough  than  it  otherwise 
would  be.  Evidently  these  regular  gatherings  enlarge  and  increase  the 
sum  total  of  knowledge  on  the  subject  of  poor  relief,  which  is  obtained- 
step  by  step  from  many  different  kinds  of  cases. 

The  district  chairman  presides  over  the  meetings  of  the  district  boards, 
while  the  overseers  bring  before  the  meeting  the  different  cases  to  be 
acted  upon,  about  which  they  have  collected  information.  Even  when 
one  of  the  overseers  is  compelled,  in  a  case  of  extreme  necessity,  to 
grant  temporary  assistance  without  having  obtained  the  consent  of  the 
district  board,  he  is  expected  afterwards  to  bring  the  matter  up  for 
approval  at  a  later  meeting. 

{c)  The  keystone  of  the  system  is  the  central  administrative  board 
(^Hauptverwaltung).  Its  more  important  offices  are  filled  by  representa- 
tives of  the  municipal  government.  This  body  exercises  a  general 
oversight  of  the  districts,  and  considers  complaints  and  such  cases 
as  naturally  come  before  such  a  body.  It  must  study  the  conditions 
of  the  poorer  classes  and  determine  the  most  appropriate  means  for 
relieving  them.  It  must  see  that  the  funds  contributed  for  the  relief  of 
the  poor  are  expended  in  the  most  advantageous  manner,  and,  in  short, 
it  must  do  everything  of  a  general  or  more  important  character  that 
may  be  of  service  in  the  advancement  of  this  branch  of  government. 

The  connecting  link  between  this  board  and  the  overseers  is  the  dis- 
trict chairman.  He  is  responsible  for  the  carrying  out  of  the  poor 
ordinances,  and  must  see  that  all  cases  are  treated  on  uniform  princi- 
ples. He  also  receives  tlie  communications,  decisions  and  directions 
of  the  central  board,  and  is  expected  to  make  them  known  to  his  over- 
seers and  his  district  board.  On  the  other  hand,  he  receives  reports 
from  the  overseers  and  transmits  them,  as  well  as  the  decisions  of  the 
district  board,  to  the  central  board. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  I  93 

It  is  evident  that  under  the  Elberfeld  system  the  heavy  burden  is 
borne  in  the  best  way  by  many  shoulders,  and  that  a  livelier  and  more 
active  interest  and  co-operation  are  secured  from  a  large  number  of 
citizens  in  the  economic,  as  well  as  in  the  financial  workings  of  poor 
relief.  Besides,  it  is  possible  for  the  directors,  because  of  the  small  size 
of  the  board,  to  survey  the  whole  field  and  thereby  insure  uniformity 
in  the  administration  of  poor  relief. 

{_ii)  The  offices  of  overseer,  district  chairman  and  members  of  the 
central  board  are  to  be  distinguished  from  the  honorary  offices  (^Ehren- 
amter)  of  the  business  department,  which  will  be  mentioned  below 
under  (^).  The  persons  holding  these  latter  positions  are  selected 
from  the  citizens  and  receive  no  remuneration  for  their  services.  This 
is  not  peculiar  to  the  system,  for  the  principle  of  honorary  office  exists 
in  all  forms  of  municipal  administration,  and  in  all  other  branches  of 
government.  Only  the  highest  positions,  in  which  undivided  atten- 
tion to  the  duties  of  the  office  is  required,  and  which  are  to  be  held  for 
a  considerable  length  of  time,  are  filled  by  paid  officials.  The  law 
makes  the  acceptance  of  these  honorary  positions  obligatory.  As  a  rule 
however,  no  compulsion  is  necessary. 

Still,  these  honorary  positions  are  of  peculiar  importance  in  poor 
relief,  because  no  other  branch  of  government  shows  such  bad  results 
when  left  to  paid  officials  only.  For  in  the  care  of  the  poor  there  is 
one  thing  which  cannot  be  secured  by  even  the  truest  devotion  to  one's 
office,  and  which  can  never  be  obtained  under  a  bureaucracy,  namely, 
the  fostering  of  neighborly  relations  between  man  and  man,  the  practi- 
cal exercise  of  what  we  express  by  the  charming  word  "  Charity." 
For  poor  relief  relates  not  to  one  side  only  of  civil  and  business  life, 
but  to  human  life  as  a  whole,  which  only  true  charity  can  succeed  in 
reaching.  It  has,  therefore,  been  laid  down  as  a  settled  principle  that, 
in  the  administration  of  poor  relief,  the  paid  official  should  be  kept  in 
the  background,  and  the  chief  responsibility  should  rest  on  the  honorary 
officers. 

{e)  One  of  the  cardinal  principles  of  the  Elberfeld  system  is  that  no 
grants  can  be  made  for  an  unlimited  space  of  time.  It  is  prescribed 
that  relief  may  be  given  for  only  fourteen  days  at  a  time,  and  permis- 
sion for  its  continuance  can  be  obtained  only  from  the  district  boards. 
So  it  is  possible  for  a  needy  person,  by  means  of  successive  renewals  of 
grants,  to  remain  a  pensioner  for  a  long  time,  possibly  for  life.  Continu- 
ance of  the  relief  is,  however,  never  assured.     Hence  arises  the  necessity 

13 


194        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

of  continually  making  new  examinations  into  the  circumstances  of  the 
pensioners,  in  order  to  look  after  them  properly,  and  to  prevent  their 
thinking  that  their  support  is  guaranteed.  From  a  practical  and  finan- 
cial point  of  view  this  is  very  important,  since  by  a  change  in  a  person's 
circumstances,  as,  for  example,  the  death  of  a  member  of  the  family, 
the  inheritance  of  money,  the  remarriage  of  a  widow,  the  finding  work, 
etc.,  the  need  of  help  may  entirely  cease  or  at  least  be  lessened.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  allowance  may  for  similar  reasons — such  as  an 
increase  or  sickness  in  the  family,  loss  of  work,  etc. — be  for  a  while 
increased  and  a  greater  though  temporary  want  may  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration. 

(/)  There  is  a  difference  between  the  management  of  indoor  and  out- 
door relief.  Of  course  in  both  cases  it  is  the  duty  of  the  overseer 
to  make  the  first  investigation  of  the  case.  But  it  is  only  in  the  case 
of  outdoor  relief  that  the  district  board  decides  as  to  the  nature  and 
extent  of  the  relief  to  be  given,  while  in  cases  of  indoor  relief,  it  can 
only  express  an  opinion  as  to  whether  relief  should  be  given.  The 
central  board  decides,  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  district  board, 
whether  indoor  relief  shall  be  given  and  what  its  nature  shall  be, 
as,  for  instance,  permanent  assignment  to  asylums  for  the  infirm,  the 
blind  or  the  deaf  and  dumb,  orphans'  homes  and  similar  institutions. 
Another  exception  is  made  in  the  case  of  indoor  relief  with  reference 
to  the  time  for  which  relief  may  be  given,  namely,  that  persons  may  at 
once  be  placed  in  an  institution  for  a  long  period  of  time  or  even  for 
life. 

(^)  In  addition  to  the  methods  of  administration  already  mentioned, 
there  is  a  well  managed  business  department.  This  department  is  not 
independent  like  the  tax  and  police  department.  It  keeps,  so  to  speak, 
the  ledger  of  charitable  work,  and  furnishes  to  agents  proper  forms  for 
making  uniform  reports  of  their  observations.  It  performs  the  clerical 
work  of  the  central  board,  places  before  it  the  resolutions  of  the  district 
boards  and  records  its  decisions.  It  collects  complete  information 
regarding  the  various  persons  relieved  and  makes  abstracts  of  the  facts, 
so  that  they  may  be  easily  accessible  to  the  overseers  when  necessary. 
Finally,  it  manages  the  finances  of  the  organization.  It  pays  out  all 
money  as  directed  by  the  district  boards,  and  delivers  all  orders  neces- 
sary to  enable  the  overseers  to  give  relief  in  money  or  to  buy  supplies, 
such  as  clothing,  shoes,  beds,  etc.,  for  the  persons  to  be  relieved. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  1 95 

It  is  not  possible  to  go  into  all  the  details  of  the  work  of  this  depart- 
ment, yet  it  is  necessary  to  emphasize  the  fact,  that  the  importance  of 
the  functions  of  the  business  management  must  not  be  underestimated. 
The  wider  the  scope  of  the  department,  the  more  important  it  is  that 
its  system  of  bookkeeping  and  of  collecting  information  should  be  clear 
and  intelligible. 

Should  a  larger  community  desire  to  remodel  its  system  of  charities 
-after  that  of  Elberfeld,  it  would  be  well  for  it  to  thoroughly  acquaint 
itself  with  the  work  of  the  business  department  of  a  city  of  its  own  size, 
where  the  Elberfeld  system  has  been  introduced.  It  may  be  mentioned 
that  Cologne  and  Frankfort,  cities  of  200,000  and  300,000  inhabitants, 
have  each  in  operation  a  model  and  satisfactory  business  department, 
patterned  after  that  of  the  Elberfeld  system.  Hamburg  reformed  its 
system  of  charities  on  April  ist  of  the  present  year,  and  at  the  same 
time  recognized  the  necessity  of  making  a  complete  change  in  its  busi- 
ness department. 

III.  Application  of  the  Elberfeld  system  to  conditions  prevailing  in 
larger  cities. 

The  Elberfeld  system  has  run  a  victorious  course  through  Germany, 
and  we  are  told  that  it  has  also  attracted  attention  in  England  and 
France.  The  Rhenish  cities  of  Germany,  such  as  Cologne,  Duisburg, 
Crefeld,  Mulheim,  etc.,  for  reasons  similar  to  those  which  existed  in 
Elberfeld,  recognized  the  need  of  reform  in  their  systems  of  charities, 
and  their  attention  was  directed  towards  the  success  of  the  system 
adopted  in  Elberfeld.  Among  other  large  cities  adopting  the  system, 
may  be  mentioned  Leipzig,  Dresden,  Magdeburg,  Konigsberg  and 
Frankfort-on-the-Main.  It  is  remakable  that  nearly  all  of  these  cities 
were  induced  to  reorganize  their  systems  by  the  same  causes,  and  that 
they  have  had  almost  the  same  experiences  as  Elberfeld  in  adopting  its 
system.  Almost  everywhere  complaints  had  been  made  regarding  the 
increase  of  begging,  the  disorderly  conduct  of  the  indigent,  lack  of 
method  and  insufficient  relief.  Wherever  greater  attention  was  given, 
a  better  administration  adopted,  and,  above  all,  where  the  number  of 
overseers  was  increased  and  they  were  permitted  to  take  part  and  vote 
in  the  meetings,  there  was  a  very  marked  improvement  in  the  condition 
of  the  poor,  while  at  the  same  time  the  expenditures  for  poor  relief 
decreased.  No  doubt,  in  the  beginning  there  was  a  noticeable  increase 
in  expenditure,  because,  by  increased  attention   to  relief  work,  many 


196        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

indigent  persons  were  brought  to   light,  who  until  then  had  been  lan- 
guishing in  misery. 

It  would,  however,  be  unwise  to  adopt  the  Elberfeld  system  in  all  its 
details  without  careful  revision,  or  to  introduce  exactly  the  same  system 
of  administration  everywhere.     In  the  first  place,  there  exists  a  consid- 
erable  difference    in   the  character  of  the   population  of  various  cities. 
While  Elberfeld   has  a  rather  settled   population,   composed  mostly  of 
skilled  workmen,  the  towns  in  the  German  coal  region,  the  large  sea- 
ports, and  especially  the  metropolis,   have  a  very  unsettled   population 
coming  from  all  parts  of  the  Empire  and  composed  to  a  large  extent  of 
unskilled  laborers.      Under   such  circumstances  it   is  more  difficult  to 
understand   the  general   social   situation  or  to  become   thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  the  special  needs  of  the  poorer  classes.     Besides,  one  does 
not  find  such  neighborly  relations  among  the  inhabitants  of  larger  cities, 
and  therefore  many  of  the  propositions  upon  which  the  Elberfeld  system 
is  based  do  not  apply  there.      It  must  also  be  remembered,  that  in  the 
cities  there  are  certain  districts  in  which  the  poorer  classes  predominate 
while  there  are  others  which  are  occupied  almost  entirely  by  the  wealth- 
ier classes.     It  is,  therefore,  almost  impossible  to  divide  the  whole  city 
into  definite  precincts,  and  assign  each  one  to  an  overseer,  because  in 
some  districts  the  overseers  would  be  overburdened  with  work,  while  in 
others   there  would  be  nothing   to  do.      Sometimes  a  single  house  con- 
tains more  paupers  than  the  overseer  of  the  precinct  in  which  it  is  situ- 
ated  can   attend   to.     Thus   the   principle   of  granting   relief  only  for 
short   periods,  which  is  a  most   important   provision,  cannot  always   be 
carried  out  under  such  conditions,  because  an  examination  of  all  the 
cases  every  two  weeks  would   require  more  time  and  energy  than   the 
board  could  give  to  it.      Finally,  we  must  consider  that  in  larger  cities 
close  relations  between  the  district  and  central  boards  cannot  be  main- 
tained, on  account  of  the  great   number  of  the  former,   and   that  the 
intervention  of  a  decentralizing  body  is  necessary.     It  is  probable  that 
Berlin  will  not  be  able  to  continue  its  system  of  poor  relief  much  longer — 
especially  when  its  numerous  suburbs  are   incorporated  and  the  popula- 
tion is  thereby  increased  by  two  millions — unless  it  inaugurates  a  strong 
decentralization  by  administrative  circuits  presided  over  by  paid  offi- 
cials. 

In  accordance  with  the  views  above  expressed,  the  city  of  Hamburg, 
having  a  population  in  round  numbers  of  600,000,  has  recently  effected 
a  change  in  its  system  of  poor  relief.     Hamburg  also  regards  the  over- 


1 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  I97 

seer  as  an  essential  agent  in  relief  work.  Each  overseer  is  not,  how- 
ever, assigned  to  a  fixed  territory,  bounded  by  certain  streets  and  house 
numbers.  Instead  of  each  district  being  divided  into  definite  precincts, 
the  number  of  districts  is  increased — to  ninety  for  the  present — and 
each  district  placed  in  charge  of  a  chairman.  The  latter  has  a  corps 
of  fifteen  or  twenty  overseers  at  his  command,  to  each  of  whom  he 
assigns  such  cases  as  he  thinks  best.  It  is  evident  that  there  cannot  be 
as  close  a  relation  between  the  overseer  and  the  paupers  as  in  Elberfeld, 
because  the  former  is  not  limited  to  a  small  fixed  territory,  but  is 
assigned  to  individual  cases  which  may  be  scattered  over  a  moderately 
large  area.  Of  course,  for  practical  reasons,  the  field  of  work  of  each 
visitor  is  generally  near  his  own  home.  As  a  consequence  of  this 
arrangement,  there  are  greater  demands  made  upon  the  chairman  of  a 
district,  because  it  is  only  through  him  that  the  overseer  comes  in  con- 
tact with  the  person  requiring  relief.  In  Hamburg,  as  a  rule,  an  over- 
seer must  take  charge  of  a  larger  number  of  cases  than  in  Elberfeld. 
About  six  to  eight  cases  are  assigned  to  each  overseer  in  Hamburg.  In 
order  that  overseers  may  not  be  too  severely  taxed,  a  plan  has  been 
adopted  which  is  not  very  desirable,  namely,  that  in  certain  cases 
relief  may  be  given  for  a  longer  period  of  time  than  two  weeks — even 
as  long  as  six  months — without  a  re-investigation.  This  is  permitted 
in  all  cases  where  the  persons  relieved  are  old  or  maimed,  or  when- 
ever it  is  safe  to  assume  that  they  are  likely  to  be  in  need  of  relief  for 
a  considerable  time.  In  other  respects  there  has  been  a  strict  enforce- 
ment of  the  rules  requiring  a  careful  investigation  of  each  case,  visits 
to  the  homes,  and  examination  into  the  circumstances  of  the  families 
and  their  capacity  for  earning  money. 

The  district  board  is  likewise  the  body  by  which  the  individual 
allowances  are  made.  All  the  overseers  take  part  in  its  deliberations. 
All  suggestions  for  the  granting  of  relief  must  be  brought  before  this 
body.  Only  such  allowances  as  are  approved  by  it  are  regarded  as 
legal. 

The  large  number  of  districts  has  made  it  necessary  that  a  new  body 
should  be  created  to  hold  an  intermediate  position  between  the  central 
board  and  the  districts.  Such  are  the  circuits  (A>m^),  each  of  which  com- 
prises a  certain  number  of  districts.  Like  the  districts,  they  meet  every 
month.  The  members  of  each  circuit  are  the  chairmen  of  the  districts 
composing  it.  The  presiding  officer  of  each  circuit  is  a  member  of  the 
central  board,  specially  appointed  for  this  purpose.     The  circuit  boards 


198        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

at  their  meetings  discuss  matters  in  which  the  districts  have  a  common 
interest,  and  act  upon  the  recommendations  of  the  districts  in  regard 
to  the  granting  of  indoor  relief.  This  must  be .  regarded  as  a  happy 
arrangement.  As  the  districts  are  represented  in  the  circuit  by  their 
chairmen  and  the  circuits  in  the  central  board  by  their  presiding  ofifi- 
cers,  the  highest  body  is  brought  directly  in  touch  with  the  lowest,  the 
work  can  be  distributed  according  to  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  each 
body,  and  the  central  board  is  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  acting^ 
upon  individual  cases.  The  central  board  has  charge  of  the  general 
administration  of  poor  relief,  the  supervision  over  the  circuits  and  dis- 
tricts, the  administration  of  the  various  asylums  coming  under  its  juris- 
diction, and  above  all  it  keeps  a  careful  watch  over  the  economic  and 
social  developments  of  the  system  of  poor  relief,  so  that  further  im- 
provements may  be  made  as  occasion  demands. 

For  the  same  reasons  the  business  department  has  been  correspond- 
ingly extended.  It  keeps  all  the  accounts  and  is  the  connecting  link 
between  the  individual  overseers,  the  chairmen  and  the  central  board. 
It  keeps  a  systematic  record  of  all  relief  given  and  examines  all  reports 
of  workers  regarding  the  persons  relieved.  The  object  of  this  exami- 
nation is  not  so  much  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  whether  the  relief  in 
each  case  has  been  given  judiciously,  as  to  make  sure  that  the  matter  in 
hand  has  been  treated  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  business  regula- 
tions, and  to  call  attention  to  any  errors  that  may  have  been  made. 
For  instance,  whenever  relief  has  been  given  in  any  district  in  viola- 
tion of  the  regulations,  and  of  such  a  nature  that  only  the  circuit  board 
should  pass  upon  it,  the  error  is  reproved  and  brought  to  the  attention 
of  the  latter  body.  The  more  extensive  the  system  of  poor  relief,  the 
more  important  it  is  to  remember  what  has  been  said  above  in  regard 
to  the  value  of  a  business  department,  with  paid  officials  in  charge,  wha 
can  follow  up  the  work  done  by  the  overseers  and  the  district  boards. 
It  is  indispensable  for  preventing  partiality  and  arbitrary  action.  The 
systematic  collection  of  reports  about  all  persons  relieved  makes  it 
possible  to  trace  any  individual  case  of  want.  This  is  especially  useful 
in  the  case  of  a  pauper  moving  from  one  section  of  the  city  to  another, 
where  his  circumstances  are  entirely  unknown.  Another  useful  feature 
of  the  business  department  is  that  it  can  examme  into  the  family  rela- 
tions of  a  pauper  with  a  view  to  discovering  relatives  who  may  be  in  a 
position  to  maintain  him,  or  at  least  to  contribute  towards  his  support. 
Finally,  it  has  charge  of  negotiations  with  the  systems  of  other  places,. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  199 

and  looks  after  the  settlement  of  claims  arising  under  the  laws  as  to  the 
right  of  domicile  of  paupers. 

In  this  form  the  re-organized  system  of  poor  relief  entered  upon  its 
course  April  i,  1893.  On  its  active  force  of  workers  it  has  nine  circuit 
chairmen,  ninety  district  chairmen,  and  about  fifteen  hundred  over- 
seers. The  central  board  of  charities  has  twenty  members,  and  in  the 
business  department  there  are  about  sixty  officials  and  twenty  other 
employees.  From  all  appearances  this  organization  is  likely  to  be  main- 
tained. Its  success  is  partly  assured  by  the  fact  that  Hamburg  has  been 
longer  accustomed  to  self-government  than  any  other  place  in  Germany. 
Its  strength  lies  in  the  zeal  with  which  the  citizens  of  Hamburg  enter 
upon  the  duties  of  public  office,  and  in  their  great  practical  aptitude 
for  self-government,  due  to  an  experience  of  centuries  of  independence. 
Besides,  Hamburg  has  always  been  a  fruitful  field  for  charitable  and 
philanthropic  efi'ort. 

In  this  place  and  connection  we  have  had  to  deal  only  with  the  organ- 
ization of  relief  as  an  institution  which  aims  to  secure  the  most  com- 
plete and  practical  method  of  providing  for  those  in  want.  This,  in 
itself,  is  a  worthy  task  so  long  as  we  realize  the  fact  that  destitute  and 
helpless  persons  will  continue  to  exist  in  spite  of  all  efforts.  But  we 
cannot  dismiss  the  subject  without  remarking  that  all  poor  relief  is  only 
a  makeshift.  To  prevent  poverty,  to  remove  its  causes  and  thereby 
make  relief  superfluous,  is  the  higher  and  more  important  problem, 
which  can  be  only  partially  solved  by  relief. 


200        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


THE  ELBERFELD  SYSTEM  OF  POOR  RELIEF,   AND  ITS 
PRACTICAL  APPLICATION. 

BY    DR.     THOMA,    BURGOMASTER    OF    FREIBURG    IN    BREISGAU,    BADEN. 

[TRANSLATION.] 
I. 

The  sixth  section  of  the  International  Congress  of  Charities,  etc.,  in 
Chicago,  in  choosing  for  the  subject  of  its  second  session,  "the  visiting  of 
the  poor  in  their  homes  by  volunteer  helpers,"  and  in  wishing  to  discuss 
the  question  of  the  utility  of  such  visits  to  the  poor  under  the  direc- 
tion of  organized  charity,  as  well  as  the  question  of  selecting  efficient 
friendly  visitors  [Armenbesucher),  whether  for  single  cases  of  poverty 
or  locally  for  defined  districts,  has  proposed  as  a  theme  for  deliberation 
precisely  the  system  well  known  throughout  Germany  as  the  "Elberfeld 
System,"  so  called  after  its  home,  the  city  of  Elberfeld  in  the  Prussian 
Rhine-province. 

With  a  few  exceptions,  which  are  without  interest  here  because  of 
their  purely  local  nature,  there  are  at  present  only  two  systems  of  public 
poor  relief  in  Germany:  the  old  system  of  Centralization,  also  called 
the  bureaucratic  system,  and  the  new  system  oi  Decentralization,  which 
is  the  Elberfeld  system.  The  former,  as  indicated  by  its  name,  is 
characterized  by  the  fact  that  the  whole  system  of  poor  relief  of  a  city 
or  community  is  governed  from  one  centre,  where  the  need  of  help  is 
looked  into,  and  relief  is  allowed  and  given.  The  duty  of  investiga- 
tion is  assigned  to  a  few  salaried  commissioners.  At  the  first  glance  it 
becomes  apparent  that  this  method  is  applicable  only  to  villages  and 
smaller  towns,  where  it  has  great  advantages.  It  is  found  now  in 
hardly  more  than  three  or  four  of  the  larger  cities  of  Germany. 

Under  the  Elberfeld  system,  the  system  of  decentralization  and 
volunteer  members,  a  town  or  community  is  divided  into  several  admin- 
istrative circles  or  districts,  {Bezirke')  and  for  each  district  an  indepen- 
dent administrative  centre  of  poor  relief  is  established.  The  general 
connection  between  the  several  districts  is  maintained  by  a  supervising 
board.  Under  its  direction  the  district  boards  {B ezirksvorstande), 
which  meet  periodically,  preserve  a  certain  uniformity  in  the  general 
administration  of  poor  relief.     In  the  year    1853  the  city  of  Elberfeld 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  20I 

inaugurated  this  system  of  individualization  of  poor  relief.  Since  then 
the  system  has  spread  victoriously  over  all  Germany,  so  that  now  its 
title  has  gained  a  thoroughly  typical  significance. 

Under  the  principle  of  decentralization  every  district  manages  its 
poor  relief  as  independently  as  possible.  Under  the  district  chairmen 
(Bezirksvorsteher)  are  a  number  of  overseers,  {Arvienpfleger')  (friendly 
visitors,  helpers).  It  is  a  rule  following  the  principle  of  individualiza- 
tion, that  one  overseer  ought  to  give  his  attention  permanently  to  not 
more  'than  four  poor  individuals  or  families.  To  that  end  the  different 
districts  are  subdivided  into  precincts  { [/nterbezirke)  or  subdistricts, 
each  of  which  is  administered  by  one  overseer.  To  accept  the  office  of 
overseer  of  the  poor  is  in  Germany  a  civic  duty,  as  it  is  to  accept  any 
other  office  in  the  community.  As  soon  as  a  poor  person  needs  relief 
he  must  first  of  all  bring  his  case  before  the  overseer  of  his  precinct, 
who  inquires  into  his  personal  affairs,  his  family  circumstances,  occupa- 
tion, cause  of  need,  etc.,  and  enters  the  results  of  his  investigation  on 
an  examination  or  information  blank.  If  convinced  that  relief  is 
unnecessary,  he  simply  rejects  the  application,  but  has  to  report  the 
case  and  the  cause  of  the  rejection  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  dis- 
trict board  [Bezirksversammlung).  The  poor  person,  on  his  part,  may 
address  a  complaint  to  the  district  chairman.  But  if  the  overseer  is 
convinced  that  relief  is  proper,  he  has  the  power,  in  conjunction  with 
the  district  chairman,  to  grant  the  necessary  relief  at  once  in  urgent 
cases ;  in  other  cases  he  must  make  his  report  to  the  meeting  of  over- 
seers (district  board),  which  meets  every  fortnight  under  the  presi- 
dency of  the  district  chairman,  when  the  matter  is  decided  by  a 
majority  vote. 

Above  these  district  boards  is  the  central  board  (  Centralverwaltung), 
the  council,  commission  or  directory  of  poor  relief  (Armenraf/t,  Ar?nen- 
commission,  Armendirection),  which  has  the  right  of  annulling  or  modi- 
fying the  decisions  or  orders  of  the  lower  boards,  provided  relief  has 
not  been  already  given.  Here  appears  a  difference,  inasmuch  as  some 
cities  nominate  to  this  supreme  body  only  men  who  have  nothing 
to  do  with  poor  relief  proper,  and,  therefore,  have  neither  seat  nor 
voice  in  the  district  boards.  Other  cities  try  to  establish  a  connection 
between  the  central  and  the  district  boards  by  making  the  chairmen  of 
district  boards  members  of  the  central  board,  which  is  then  called 
poor  council  or  commission  of  poor  relief.  The  latter  method  is  decid- 
edly to  be  preferred;  for  under  it   the  members  of  the  central  board. 


202         INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

who  are  occupied  in  their  own  professions  and  not  acquainted  .with  the 
condition  of  the  poor  by  personal  contact,  get  more  graphic  and  cer- 
tain information;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  volunteer  chairmen  of 
the  district  boards  become  familiar  with  the  views  of  the  central  board 
by  their  participation  in  the  revision  of  grants,  the  formulation  of  prin- 
ciples, tariffs,  etc.,  and  in  the  discussion  of  legal  questions  which  arise, 
and  put  these  views  into  practice  in  the  district  boards.  By  this  means 
the  uniformity  of  the  general  administration  is  essentially  promoted. 

Another  notable  contrast  exists  in  connection  with  the  powers  of  the 
district  boards  or  district  committees  (^B ezirkskommissione),  as  they  are 
termed  more  frequently.  Under  the  Elberfeld  system  proper,  the  dis- 
trict boards  pay  out  directly,  /.  <?. ,  without  authority  from  a  higher 
board,  all  amounts  allowed  by  them.  Many  cities,  however,  ques- 
tion the  propriety  of  allowing  a  council  of  more  or  less  inexperienced 
persons,  who  act  only  as  honorary  officials,  to  dispense  city  funds  directly; 
they  require  either  the  consent  of  the  central  board  in  addition  to  the 
decision  of  the  district  board,  or  they  treat  the  proposals  of  these 
boards  merely  as  expressions  of  opinion  and  in  every  case  refer  the  final 
decision  to  the  central  board.  The  latter  arrangement  guarantees  by 
its  double  examination  greater  thoroughness,  but  could  scarcely  be  em- 
ployed in  a  large  city  of  100,000  to  150,000  inhabitants.  For  in  the 
latter  case  the  approval  of  the  central  board,  which  could  not  possibly 
obtain  sufficient  knowledge  as  to  every  case  of  relief,  would  degenerate 
to  an  empty  formality  and  unnecessarily  relieve  the  overseers  and  dis- 
trict chairmen  of  part  of  their  responsibility. 

As  emphasized  above,  the  Elberfeld  system  proper  assigns  to  the  over- 
seers as  their  sphere  of  work  precincts  containing  four  cases  at  most. 

Some  few  German  cities  have  deviated  from  this  rule.  They  make 
no  division  into  precincts,  but  leave  it  to  the  district  chairmen  to 
assign  any  case  of  poverty  occurring  in  their  districts  to  one  of  their 
overseers,  and  not  over  four  at  one  time  to  one  overseer.  This  way 
of  choosing  visitors  or  overseers  for  particular  cases  is  less  commenda- 
ble. In  view  of  the  scattered  condition  and  the  frequent  change  of 
residence  among  the  poor,  the  continual  watchfulness  and  care,  which 
are  indispensable,  become  in  many  cases  impossible.  Besides,  an  over- 
seer gets  into  a  habit  of  attending  only  to  the  cases  assigned  to  him, 
having  neither  eyes  nor  ears  for  the  rest  of  the  pauper  population. 
]ust  those  considerations  which  are  most  important  in  the  economic 
movements  of  the  people,  the  variations  in  the  prosperity  of  the  poorer 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  20 


■y 


classes,  changes  of  occupation,  of  residence,  and  of  sanitary  conditions 
are  thus  utterly  lost.  So  the  local  delimitation  of  the  sphere  of  relief 
is  without  doubt  preferable.  The  visitor  ought  to  live  within  his  dis- 
trict and  try  to  obtain  a  full  knowledge  of  all  interesting  events  that 
happen  there.  It  is  of  the  very  greatest  importance  to  make  visits  at 
all  times  of  the  day  in  those  quarters  where  the  poor — whether  being 
assisted  or  not — reside,  and  thus  to  form  one's  opinion  from  personal 
investigation. 

II. 

Concerning  the  practical  operation  of  the  Elberfeld  system  and  the 
success  to  be  attained  under  it,  I  must  here  refer  to  my  personal  expe- 
rience as  head  of  the  department  of  poor  relief  in  the  city  of  Freiburg 
in  Breisgau.  The  system  is  without  doubt  a  very  good  one;  if  we  can 
draw  any  conclusion  from  the  splendid  results  attained  since  1853,  it 
will  hold  its  position  in  the  future  not  only  in  this  city,  but  in  all 
Germany.  But  it  has  here  and  there  its  weak  points,  which  come  to 
light  only  in  practice;  they  may,  however,  be  certainly  and  thoroughly 
corrected  by  the  adoption  of  proper  measures  borrowed  from  the  old 
system  of  centralization. 

The  Elberfeld  system  has  been  in  operation  in  Freiburg  since  1879. 
The  whole  city  is  divided  into  ten  districts  and  these  again  into  eighty- 
two  precincts.  At  first  glance  it  is  clear  to  everybody,  that  the  good 
results  of  this  system  depend  chiefly  on  the  personal  fitness  of  the 
chairmen  and  overseers.  But  just  in  this  respect  the  experience  of  this 
city  has  not  been  very  happy.  It  was  often  very  difficult  to  fill  the 
places  of  retiring  chairmen  and  overseers.  The  most  incredible  excuses 
were  sometimes  offered  and  women  played  a  role  which  must  not  be 
underestimated.  The  more  rich,  refined  and  independent  the  person 
applied  to,  the  greater  were  the  difticulties  encountered.  The  acceptance 
of  the  office  of  overseer  is,  indeed,  a  public  duty  which  can  be  legally 
enforced.  But  of  what  use  is  a  man  who  only  yields  to  force,  who  has 
no  zeal  and  love  for  his  work,  especially  where  the  whole  success  depends 
on  willingness  and  personal  sacrifice!  Constraint  was,  therefore,  never 
actually  employed  with  us.  In  this  way  it  happened  that  in  this  city 
the  offices  of  chairman  and  overseer  fell  mostly  into  the  hands  of 
people  from  the  middle  classes,  small  tradesmen  and  mechanics,  who 
do  not  lack  willingness,  but  very  often  lack  the  necessary  discernment 
and,  because  of  their  busmess,  the  necessary  time  for  energetic  treatment 


204        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

of  individual  cases.  I  have,  for  instance,  proved  that  in  the  case  of 
one  overseer  not  he,  but  his  wife  had  for  years  distributed  relief,  and 
that  only  in  response  to  direct  appeals  by  the  poor.  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances we  must  not  wonder,  that  when  the  work  is  reviewed  by 
the  central  board  bad  abuses  appear.  A  widow,  for  instance,  con- 
tinued to  draw  a  sum  once  allowed,  although  she  had  found  a  sufficient 
support  by  marriage  with  a  healthy,  strong  man;  in  order  to  conceal  the 
real  state  of  affairs  she  signed  the  receipts  with  her  old  name.  This  fact 
remained  undetected  for  some  time,  because  the  overseer  did  not  make 
regular  visits,  on  account  of  business,  as  he  stated.  On  the  other  hand 
it  must  be  admitted  that  there  are  localities  in  large  cities,  which  many 
people  dislike  to  visit,  and  that  there  is  work  to  be  done  now  and  then 
in  the  course  of  administering  poor  relief,  which  cannot  be  reasonably 
expected  from  an  overseer  who  holds  an  honorary  office. 

In  order  to  alter  this  condition  of  affairs  two  official  and  paid  chair- 
men were  placed  in  two  districts  containing  a  large  population  of 
laborers  and  people  of  the  lower  classes,  where  no  volunteers  fit  for 
the  position  could  be  found,  while  the  remaining  features  of  the  Elber- 
feld  standard  were  fully  maintained.  Besides  these,  there  were  appointed 
paid  official  inspectors  (^Arinenaiifseher)  or  comptrollers  {Armencontrol- 
etcre)  for  the  poor  throughout  the  whole  city.  The  task  of  the  latter  is 
a  double  one.  First  they  must,  like  the  comptrollers  of  the  sick  benefit 
associations,  exercise  a  continual  and  watchful  vigilance  over  all  who 
obtain  relief;  then  they  must,  when  directed  by  the  central  authority, 
make  the  investigations  necessary  for  the  re-examination  of  individual 
cases  of  need.  In  the  latter  case  they  not  only  exercise  a  control  over 
less  conscientious  chairmen  and  visitors,  but  they  also  gather  such  infor- 
mation as  the  latter  cannot  be  reasonably  expected  to  get.  For  three 
years  the  best  results  have  followed  these  new  arrangements.  Moreover, 
regarding  the  comptrollers  the  conclusion  has  been  reached  that  they 
are  a  necessary  supplement  to  the  Elberfeld  system,  since  they  keep 
up  a  stable  and  active  connection  between  the  central  board  and  the 
districts.  The  comptroller  of  the  poor  is  just  as  indispensable  as  is  the 
comptroller  of  the  sick  in  the  sick  benefit  associations.  The  comp- 
troller renders  very  important  service  in  caring  for  the  children  of  the 
poor,  who  must  be  closely  watched  not  only  in  regard  to  relief,  but  in 
regard  to  their  education. 

Another  material  innovation,  which  was  introduced  in   1889,  is  the 
adoption  of  the  fundamental  principle  that  relief  shall   be  granted  for 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  205 

a  fortnight  only,  that  is  from  one  session  of  the  district  board  to  the 
next.  This  had  already  been  the  rule  elsewhere.  On  the  one  hand, 
a  new  investigation  of  the  case  every  two  weeks  is  assured  and  abuses 
are  excluded  as  far  as  possible.  On  the  other  hand,  the  interest  of  the 
overseers  in  their  districts  is  kept  alive.  New  life  is  infused  into  the 
whole  administration  and  with  increased  work  comes  an  increase  of 
interest,  because  every  one  feels  that  his  activity  is  recognized  as  very 
important  and  useful  to  the  community. 

Good  results  have  also  been  obtained  by  the  co-operation  of  public 
charity  with  church  charities,  relief  giving  associations  and  private  per- 
sons, by  reason  of  which  the  destructive  results  of  overlapping  charity 
are  becoming  more  and  more  rare. 

Finally,  the  overseers  as  well  as  the  comptrollers  in  their  rounds  and 
visits  are  obliged  to  exercise  a  constant  oversight  of  the  sanitary  condi- 
tion of  the  tenements  of  the  poorer  classes.  At  times  such  defects  as 
cannot  be  remedied  at  once  by  kindly  intervention  are  reported  through 
the  poor-counsellor  to  the  police  department  with  a  view  to  employing 
coercive  measures  against  the  landlord. 

The  re-organization  of  public  poor  relief  in  Freiburg  described  above, 
which  is  not  an  alteration  of  the  principles  of  the  Elberfeld  system,  but 
only  a  necessary  completion  and  perfecting  of  it,  has  had  good  results  in 
every  direction.  The  expenses  of  administration  have  diminished 
by  one-third,  or  even  by  one-half,  in  comparison  with  former  years; 
other  factors  however,  as,  for  instance,  the  enactment  of  compulsory 
insurance  of  laborers,  have  contributed  to  this  result.  But  to  avoid 
possible  mistakes,  it  must  be  distinctly  stated  here  that  the  prin- 
ciple of  critical  investigation  as  to  the  necessity  for  relief,  as  well 
as  the  rules  about  the  kind  and  amount  of  relief,  have  remained  exactly 
as  before.  The  sole  intention  was  to  stamp  out  thoroughly  all  abuses 
in  poor  relief.  On  the  other  hand,  the  moral  gain  must  not  be  under- 
estimated. All  help  for  the  poor  that  goes  too  far  has  the  bad  result, 
that  the  poor  completely  lose  the  sense  of  the  duty  to  be  fulfilled 
toward  themselves  and  their  families.  They  leave  the  care  of  themselves 
and  their  families  to  the  public,  become  lazy  and  afraid  of  work,  and 
live  under  the  mistaken  idea  that  it  ought  to  be  so,  that  they  should  be 
supported  at  public  expense.  The  poor  relief  of  this  city  is  managed 
on  this  ])rinciple :  real  want  must  be  relieved  generously  and  in  a 
manner  worthy  of  humanity:   but  where  with  some  assistance  a   ])auper 


2o6        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


is  able  to  improve  his  condition,  but  shows  no  inclination  to  do  so,  even 
a  penny  is  denied  him. 

It  is  possible  that  in  some  other  German  cities  better  conditions 
prevail  for  practising  the  Elberfeld  system  unchanged  than  in  our  city. 
But  I  am  firmly  convinced,  that  the  same  defects  may  be  found  else- 
where in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  if  we  only  take  pams  to  investigate. 
The  numerous  letters  that  have  come  to  me  from  other  cities  since  I 
published  my  first  observations  about  the  re-organization  of  poor  relief 
in  our  city,  corroborate  this  statement. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  207 


THE    ELBERFELD    SYSTEM    OF    POOR    RELIEF. 

BY  L.  F.  SEYFFARDT,  PRESIDING  OFFICER  OF  THE  CHARITY  ADMINISTRATION 
IN  CREFELD  AND  MENBER  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  DELEGATES  FOR  MAGDE- 
BURG. 

[TRANSLATION    RECEIVED   FROM   THE   AUTHOR.] 

At  the  meeting  of  the  committee  of  the  German  Association  for  Relief 
of  the  Poor  and  Charity  last  spring,  Mr.  John  Graham  Brooks  addressed 
to  me  various  questions  about  the  working  of  the  so-called  Elberfeld 
system  of  poor  relief,  which  during  the  last  generation  has  won  its  vic- 
torious way  into  the  administration  of  most  German  cities.  Mr.  Brooks 
had  been  told  that  year  by  year  new  cities  were  introducing  the  system, 
with  alterations,  however,  differing  in  various  details,  and  particularly 
in  one  highly  important  point,  from  the  old  model  of  the  Elberfeld 
organization.  This  point  consists  in  the  limitation  of  the  powers  of 
the  local  overseer  and  the  local  district  regarding  the  final  decision 
about  what  relief  is  necessary  in  favor  of  the  central  board,  and  in  the 
latter  being  authorized  to  engage  paid  officers  of  control.  Mr.  Brooks 
wished  to  know  whether  these  facts  were  correct,  whether  they  indicate 
that  in  the  most  important  respects  the  Elberfeld  system  has  proved 
insufficient,  and  that  the  necessity  of  returning  to  the  old  system  of 
relief  through  paid  officers  appears  as  a  matter  of  course.  I  did  not 
hesitate  to  answer  the  question  of  Mr.  Brooks  to  the  best  of  my 
knowledge,  whereupon  he  asked  me  to  give  a  written  account  of  the 
matter  for  the  proceedings  of  this  section  of  the  Chicago  Congress  of 
Charities,  etc. 

In  doing  this  I  must  say  that,  as  far  as  I  know,  the  matter  in  dispute 
has  never  been  spoken  of  in  the  special  literature  of  the  subject, 
though  wherever  the  Elberfeld  system  has  been  adopted,  it  has  never 
disappeared  from  the  order  of  the  day.  No  time  is  left  before  the  time 
of  meeting  in  Chicago  to  send  a  sheet  of  inquiry  to  a  number  of  cities 
in  order  to  get  a  proper  basis  for  a  scientific  report.  I  am  therefore 
limited  to  my  own  experience  obtained  during  thirty  years  of  practical 
work  with  the  Elberfeld  organization. 

Mr.  Brooks  in  his  question  has  indeed  found  out  the  weakest  point 
of  the  Elberfeld  system,  which  occasionally  has  cost  some  headache  to 


2o8        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

its  friends.     The  new  system  has  transferred  the  provident  care  of  the 
poor  and  weak  from  the  hands  of  paid  officers,  who  had   to  care  for  a 
large  number,  and   therefore  were  obliged   to  work  according  to  fixed 
rules,    into   those  of  unpaid  citizens,  who  have  to  provide  for  a  very- 
limited  number  of  poor  people  only,  and  are  in  consequence  able  to 
treat  every  case  individually.     Theoretically  this  is  undoubtedly  right 
and   has  led  to  wonderful  success  in  the  average  of  cases  in  practice. 
Whenever  the  three  factors,  overseer,  director  of  district  and  central  board 
do  their  duty  fully,  it  all  goes  of  itself.     But  if  one  of  them  does  not 
come  up  to  the  mark,  errors  and  false  decisions  will  occur  which  must 
be  contested  one  way  or  another.     The  principal  means  made  use  of 
to  control  the  giving   of  relief  consists  in  revisions   of  the  districts, 
arranged   by  the  central  board,  and  taking  place  at  regular  intervals, 
when  the  overseers  have   to   give  an   account   of  every  case  entrusted 
to  them,  while  members  of  the  central  board  and  directors  of  various 
districts  are  in  attendance.      This  means  of  control  however  has  proved 
unreliable,  because  people  who  are  adroit   in  talking  will  always  know 
how  to  veil  that   which   is  dubious,    as   long  as  an  inspection   of  the 
place  of  living  and  working  is  out  of  the  question.     From  the  experi- 
ence of  different  towns,  in  which  the  Elberfeld  system  has  been  long  in 
existence,  another  means  of  control  seems  to  be  preferable.     The  cen- 
tral  board   itself  inquires   into   the   details  of  the  family  circumstances 
and  money  earnings.     Its  members  reserve  the  decision  for  themselves, 
while  they  make  use  of  the  services  of  paid  officers  to  collect  the   facts 
of  the  case.     However  discreetly  such   measures  may  be  carried  out, 
they  may   occasionally   offend   the   overseers,  jealous  of  their  right  of 
decision.     They  cannot  object  to  the  control  of  the  central  board,  that 
being  an  honorary  body,  but  are  very  displeased  by  any  real  or  appa- 
rent control  by  paid  officers.     To  avoid  such  occurrences,  the  statutes 
of  different  organizations  of  modern  date  stipulate  for  the  appointment 
of  special  paid  officers  to  investigate  every  new  case  or  cases  already 
assumed,  which   appear  to  be  doubtful  and  suspicious.     For  the  same 
reason  the  appointment  of  such  officers  has  been   inserted   in  different 
statutes  of  older  date.     It  will  entirely  depend  on  the  selection  of  these 
officers,  on  their  education  and  capability,  whether  the  sensibility  and 
jealousy  of  honorary  overseers  is  sufficiently  spared. 

What  has  been  said  will  undoubtedly  prove,  that  the  measures  in 
([uestion  do  not  constitute  an  alteration  of  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  Elberfeld  system,  but  only  the  filling  up  of  a  gap  in  the  statutes 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  209 

•of  a  former  period,  statutes  composed  at  a  time  when  no  experience 
about  the  methods  of  control  were  at  hand.  All  these  statutes  contain 
a  paragraph  of  about  the  following  tenor : 

The  central  board  shall  keep  close  acquaintance  with  the  decisions  of 
each  poor  district,  by  the  study  of  its  resolutions  or  in  any  other  suita- 
ble way.     It   is  authorized  to  annul  such  decisions,  whenever  they  do 
not  correspond  with  the  circumstances  stated  or  the  prescriptions  given, 
and  to  decide  differently. 

Wise  practice  will  make  use  of  this  paragraph  in  very  rare  cases  only, 
in  order  not  to  weaken  the  very  vital  nerve  of  the  Elberfeld  system,  the 
moral  responsibility  of  the  overseer  for  the  poor  whom  he  has  to  take 
care  of.  The  necessity  for  such  consideration  is  at  the  present  time  even 
more  generally  acknowledged  than  at  the  time  when  the  system  was 
introduced.  In  any  case,  in  which  measures  adopted  to  strengthen  the 
control  are  at  variance  with  this  admission,  they  are  disadvantageous 
and  prejudice  the  efficiency  of  the  Elberfeld  system  of  poor-relief. 


14 


2  10        INTERNATIONAL   CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


CO-OPERATION    BETWEEN    PUBLIC 

RELIEF. 


AND    PPJVATE     POOR 


BY     DR.   VICTOR    EOHMERT,   CHIEF    OF    ROYAL    SAXON  STATISTICAL 

BUREAU,   DRESDEN. 


[TRANSLATION.] 

I.    General  remarks  regarding  the  Pauper  Question  as  distinguished 
from  the  Labor  Question. 

The  benevolent  efforts  of  the  present  day  are  by  no  means  confined 
to  the  care  of  the  poor  and  needy,  but  have  in  view  the  welfare  of  the 
great  mass  of  the  population,  especially  the  wage  earning  class,  which 
in  most  civilized  communities  represents  about  two-thirds  of  the  popu- 
lation, and  is  placed  at  a  far  greater  disadvantage  than  the  other  third, 
which  includes  the  rich  and  the  middle  classes. 

Aided  by  scientific  and  technical  improvements  and  inventions,  agri- 
culture, manufactures  and  commerce  have  materially  facilitated  the 
production  and  accumulation  of  wealth  and  greatly  raised  the  social 
position  of  all  classes  of  the  population.  The  laboring-classes  especi- 
ally take  a  greater  interest  than  formerly  in  the  intellectual  and  politi- 
cal life  of  the  nation;  though  at  the  same  time,  through  the  increase  of 
the  great  industries,  many  new  sources  of  danger  to  the  health,  morals, 
and  economic  condition  of  the  laborer  have  arisen  and  necessitated 
legislative  and  administrative  measures  of  social  reform.  Most  of  these 
are  intended  to  protect  minors  and  female  laborers,  but  others  to  pro- 
tect adult  male  laborers  from  injury  to  their  physical,  economic,  intel- 
lectual and  moral  interests;  for  example,  laws  regulating  the  observance 
of  Sunday,  hours  of  labor,  labor  contracts,  factory  regulations,  inspec- 
tion of  factories,  laborers'  insurance,  etc. 

The  efforts  to  advance  social  reform  and  the  welfare  of  the  laborer, 
seek  principally  justice  for  the  laborer  and  differ  entirely  from  the  care 
of  the  poor,  which  requires  practical  sympathy  and  busies  itself  with 
the  needy,  the  weak,  the  destitute,  the  widow,  the  orphan,  the  sick, 
the  infirm,  the  neglected,  and  the  fallen,  striving  to  lift  them  up  again 
and  lead  them  on  the  right  road. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  211 

A  sharp  distinction  must  be  drawn  between  the  pauper  question  and 
the  labor  question.  Laborers  want  neither  alms  nor  relief,  which 
would  deprive  them  of  important  civil  rights,  such  as  the  right  of  suf- 
frage. In  many  places  their  attitude  is  one  of  opposition  to  a  patron- 
izing guardianship,  or  the  bestowal  of  favors  which  are  distributed 
after  all  only  to  a  few  individuals.  On  the  contrary,  they  wish  to 
be  regarded  as  co-laborers  of  equal  birth  with  their  employers  and 
superiors,  and  desire,  after  attaining  political  equality,  to  elevate 
their  class  by  their  own  efforts  to  a  better  economic  and  social  position. 
But  at  least  a  portion  of  the  poor,  either  through  their  own  fault  or  the 
fault  of  those  who  should  support  them,  or  through  infirmity  or  extra- 
ordinary mishaps,  have  been  brought  to  a  precarious  condition,  from 
which  they  cannot  lift  themselves  by  their  own  efforts. 

The  following  discussion  is  not  intended  to  dwell  upon  the  labor 
question,  but  considers  only  one  branch  of  the  care  of  the  poor, 
namely,  that  which  relates  to  the  co-operation  of  public  and  private 
poor  relief,  [armenpflege). 

The  author  of  these  lines  was  led  to  the  discussion  of  this  subject  by 
an  invitation  to  participate  personally,  as  well  as  by  papers,  in  the 
International  Congress  of  Charities,  Correction  and  Philanthropy.  In 
the  sixth  section  of  this  Congress,  the  organization  and  practice  of 
charity  in  states,  cities  and  rural  communities,  and  preventive  poor 
relief  are  to  be  discussed;  also  the  sphere  and  duties  of  voluntary  socie- 
ties, churches  and  private  charities  and  their  mutual  relations  to  orga- 
nized charity. 

Efforts  are  being  made  to  fix  the  limits  of  public  as  well  as  private 
poor  relief,  and  to  practically  unite  and  organize  them. 

2.  The  necessity  for  organizing  public  poor  relief  and  supervising 
private  charity. 

In  nearly  all  departments  of  public,  professional  and  business  life, 
l)roper  organization  is  a  pre-requisite  to  success.  The  wealth  of  the  great 
modern  industries  is  due  chiefly  to  the  division  of  labor.  Many  a  manager 
of  an  industrial  enterprise,  who  has  properly  organized  his  employees 
and  rightly  distributed  their  efficiency,  can  accomplish  more  with  two 
hundred  laborers  than  his  incompetent  competitor  with  three  hundred. 
The  same  rule  holds  in  the  government  of  states  and  communities,  the 
command  of  armies,  and  the  superintendence  of  institutions.  The 
bravest  soldiers  will  be  defeated  when  they  have  a  bad  leader.  lUit  a 
united  force,  inspired  by  the  right  s])irit  and   properly  led    in   the  riglit 


212         INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

direction  towards  a  common  goal  can  accomplish  much,  even  though 
it  has  little  or  no  strength.  This  is  especially  true  of  ideal  philan- 
thropic efforts.  All  who  are  interested  in  this  work  must  put  aside 
every  selfish  motive,  every  capricious  impulse,  everything  of  secondary 
importance,  and  must  keep  in  view  only  the  great  object  of  promoting 
the  permanent  welfare  of  their  fellow  man.  ' 

Regulations  concerning  poor  relief  can  produce  no  lasting  results  with- 
out organization  of  the  forces  which  are  necessary  for  the  alleviation  of  the 
wants  of  the  poor.  Such  organization  cannot  be  entirely  of  a  non-official 
character,  because  the  State  and  the  community  confer  rights  and 
impose  duties  upon  the  poor,  and  because,  without  police  regulations 
and  measures  of  restraint,  justice  could  not  be  upheld  nor  public  order 
be  maintained.  For  instance,  no  government,  whether  of  a  state  or  a 
community,  can  leave  only  to  chance  or  to  benevolent  societies  the 
care  of  the  poor,  the  sick,  the  insane,  or  of  women  or  children  deserted 
by  those  who  should  support  them.  The  necessary  police  regulation  of 
contagious  diseases  and  a  proper  consideration  for  the  welfare  of  the 
community  forbid  the  authorities  to  maintain  a  passive  position.  But 
the  community  must  not  only  consider  those  who  are  infected  with 
contagion,  but  also  deserted  children,  discharged  prisoners,  beggars  and 
vagrants  who  are  suffering  from  alcoholism,  and  in  general  all  the  poor, 
native  or  foreign,  and  must  ward  off  anything  that  may  threaten  or 
harm  the  body  politic. 

In  large  communities  workhouses  cannot  be  dispensed  with  for  men 
and  women,  who  by  intemperance,  gambling,  vagrancy,  vice,  licen- 
tiousness or  indiscretion  have  brought  those  dependent  on  them  to  a  con- 
dition requiring  public  support.  Boards  of  charity  must  therefore  be 
established  everywhere  and  entrusted  with  the  supervision  and  manage- 
ment of  poor  relief.  These  boards,  like  every  other  authority,  can 
require  private  persons  and  societies  which  wish  to  help  the  poor  to 
accommodate  themselves  to  general  regulations,  and  not  prevent  the 
attainment  of  the  main  object  nor  make  it  difficult.  The  Saxon  poor 
law  of  1840,  which  is  in  many  respects  still  regarded  as  a  model,  had 
already  provided  for  the  co-operation  of  public  and  private  poor  relief 
to  the  extent  of  requiring  that  private  societies  must  not  refuse  to 
give  information  to  the  board  of  charities  about  persons  relieved  by 
them.  The  duty  of  giving  this  information,  and  the  keeping  of  a  sta- 
tistical record  of  the  number,  age,  standing  of  the  family,  nationality 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  213 

and  other  circumstances  of  the  poor,  were  the  first  steps  towards  co- 
operation of  public  and  private  relief. 

It  is  not  only  to  the  interest  of  every  community  to  become  better 
acquainted  with  its  destitute  inhabitants,  but  it  is  also  its  duty  to 
observe  the  work  and  results  of  its  benevolent  societies. 

Benevolence  may  become  a  plague  and  a  curse  for  the  poor,  as  well 
as  for  the  benevolent  and  for  whole  communities,  when  anarchy  rules 
in  their  charities,  and  individuals,  societies,  churches  and  institutions 
scatter  their  gifts  regardless  of  one  another.  All  benevolence  requires 
not  only  sympathy,  but  wisdom,  discretion  and  prudence,  and  regard 
for  the  general  welfare.  If  at  the  time  of  an  epidemic  any  one  wishes 
to  erect  a  hospital  at  his  own  expense  for  the  purpose  of  having  the 
sick  taken  care  of,  he  cannot  be  permitted  to  do  so  in  any  locality  he 
may  select,  but  must  submit  to  the  public  health  regulations.  Whoever 
would  check  the  spread  of  mendicancy  or  the  destitution  of  whole 
families  and  communities,  must  not  scatter  money  without  system 
among  unknown  persons  and  lead  them  astray  into  idleness,  but  must 
act  in  the  general  interest  of  the  poor  and  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
community  which  is  threatened. 

Begging  is  carried  on  in  many  places  as  a  business  which  is  fraudu- 
lent and  dangerous  to  the  community.  Young  or  adult  persons  unwill- 
ing to  work  appeal  to  societies  or  good  natured  individuals  who  like  to 
give  relief,  and  by  applications,  either  verbal  or  written,  succeed  in 
getting  help  under  false  pretences  in  many  places.  By  this  means  they 
lead  a  far  easier  life  than  those  who  live  by  the  work  of  their  hands. 
Their  bad  example  and  the  consequences  of  an  idle  life  of  mendicancy 
spread  contagion  and  encourage  discontent  far  and  wide.  The  impulse 
to  advance  by  one's  own  exertions  is  weakened,  and  by  such  misdi- 
rected charity  proper  relief  is  really  withheld  from  persons  in  need,  who 
deserve  to  be  helped.  For  these  reasons,  under  the  imperial  penal  law 
of  January  i,  1872,  §  361,  begging  in  Germany  is  threatened  with  pun- 
ishment, and  in  many  jiarts  of  Germany — in  Saxony,  for  instance,  where 
the  relief  of  penniless  vagrants  is  regulated  by  special  relief  stations, 
{yerpfle^^tiiu^sstationen) — the  ])olice  ordinances  even  go  so  far  as  to 
punish  the  giving  of  money  to  beggars.  For  the  unsystematic  relief  of 
unknown  persons  exerts  a  corrupting  influence  and  greatly  endangers 
the  safety  and  order  of  communities.  It  is  a  public  duty  of  benevo- 
lent societies  which  control  funds  and  often  acquire  the  rights  of  en- 
rolled  corporations,  and  corresponds  to  their    i)ul)lic  legal    standing. 


2  14        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

not  to  interfere  with  the  activity  of  officials,  but   to   come   into  closer 
touch  with  public  relief  as  well  as  with  kindred  benevolent  societies. 

Whoever  has  a  sincere  desire  to  stem  the  tide  of  distress  must  foster 
efforts  similar  to  his  own,  and  take  note  of  societies  which  are  working 
in  the  same  direction.  Mutual  ignorance  prejudices  the  work  of  the 
agents  of  general  benevolence,  who  unconsciously  compete  in  matters 
of  charity,  and  unnecessarily  incur  double  expense.  On  the  other  hand, 
many  schemes  for  the  public  welfare  go  by  the  board,  which  through 
united  action  could  have  been  carried  to  success.  A  recent  circular  of 
the  Board  of  Charities  of  Paris  addressed  to  the  public  sums  up  the  con- 
sequences of  unsystematic  charity  in  a  few  words,  as  follows : 

"  The  same  persons  are  relieved  twice  and  oftener  ;  much  money  and 
labor  is  squandered  ;  the  capital  is  overwhelmed  with  the  destitute  from 
the  provinces  and  abroad,  who  can  neither  be  properly  relieved  nor  sent 
back  to  their  homes." 

In  Germany  the  public  authorities  have  another  reason  which  com- 
pels them  to  assume  control  of  the  organization  of  benevolent  societies 
and  private  charities. 

The  imperial  German  law  of  June  6,  1870,  in  reference  to  the  right 
of  settlement,  imposes  the  duty  of  continuous  support  of  a  pauper  upon 
the  community  in  which  before  becoming  a  pauper  he  has  been  uninter- 
ruptedly a  resident  for  two  years  after  the  completion  of  his  twenty- 
fourth  year.  This  right  of  settlement  is  forfeited  if  public  relief  is 
given  to  a  pauper  before  the  expiration  of  the  prescribed  two  years, 
but  not  if  he  is  relieved  by  societies  or  by  private  charity.  So  it  fre- 
quently happens  that  persons  who  are  afraid  of  work  or  destitute  or 
incapable  of  earning  a  livelihood,  move  to  large  cities  and  manage  to 
live  on  private  charity  for  two  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  they 
present  themselves  to  the  city  authorities  as  paupers  entitled  to  public 
relief.  This  surreptitious  acquisition  of  the  right  of  settlement,  means 
a  heavy  charge  upon  the  finances  of  cities,  where  poor  relief  oft'ers 
many  more  attractions  than  in  sinaller  and  especially  in  rural  com- 
munities, and  withdraws  from  many  smaller  communities  labor  which 
they  require. 

3.      Attempts  to  regulate  private  benevolence  in  Germany. 

To  combat  injudicious  relief,  as  well  as  to  prevent  pri\ate  relief  of 
persons  who  hope  by  its  help  to  be  able  to  reside  for  two  years  in  a 
large  city  and  so  acquire  the  right  of  settlement,  steps  have  been  taken 
in  several  German  cities,  within  the  last  two  decades,  to  bring  about 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  215 

harmonious  and  united  action  between  public  and  private  relief.  This 
is  regulated  by  the  size  of  the  cities.*  In  the  cities  of  Elbing,  (having 
in  1890  a  population  41,576),  Colberg  (16,999),  Coburg  (17,106),  and 
Bremerhaven  (16,414),  a  co-operation  of  public  and  private  relief  was 
attained  by  having  representatives  of  the  benevolent  societies  take  part 
in  the  meetings  of  the  department  of  the  poor. 

In  Elbing  a  member  of  a  society  was  assigned  to  each  overseer's 
district.  In  Colberg  a  representative  of  each  society  has  a  seat  on  the 
city  board  of  charities.  In  Coburg  the  secretaries  of  the  two  principal 
societies  take  part  in  the  sessions  of  the  city  board  of  public  charities 
with  a  right  to  vote;  while  in  Bremerhaven  the  representatives  of  churches 
and  benevolent  societies  are  invited  to  the  sessions  of  the  city  board. 

In  the  cities  of  Halberstadt,  (having  a  population  of  36,786,  Decem- 
ber I,  1890),  Hagen  (35,428),  Landsberg  (28,065),  and  Greifswald 
(21,624),  the  reverse  is  true.  Representatives  of  the  public  poor  relief 
take  part  in  the  business  management  of  the  private  benevolent  societies. 

In  Halberstadt  and  Greifswald  the  presidents  of  the  public  poor 
relief  are  members  of  the  boards  of  private  benevolent  societies;  in 
Hagen  and  Landsberg  several  members  of  the  city  boards  of  chari- 
ties are  members  of  the  boards  of  societies. 

In  the  cities  of  Zwickau  (population  44,198,  December  i,  1890), 
Brandenburg  (37,817),  Hildesheim  (33,481),  Reichenbach  (21,496), 
Ludwigsburg  (17,418,)  and  Coburg  (17,106),  a  co-operation  was  like- 
wise established  between  public  and  private  relief,  which  consisted 
partly  in  the  giving  of  information  by  the  societies,  and  partly  in  the 
mutual  intercourse  between  the  city  boards  of  charities  and  private 
societies. 

The  plan  of  the  Saxon  provincial  town  of  Mittweida  (population 
11,298,  December  i,  1890),  is  peculiar.  During  the  last  eight  years 
the  directors  of  its  five  benevolent  societies  which  give  out  door  relief 
have  been  in  the  habit  of  holding  general  conferences  in  which  they 
exchange  experiences.  These  general  conferences  and  the  mutual 
exchange  of  information  have  had  two  notable  results.  The  directors 
have  learned  to  know  the  "beggars  by  inclination,"  and  were  soon  able 
to  put  a  stop  to  their  trade.     They  have  learned  also  to  unite  for  general 

*  A  fuller  description  will  be  found  in  a  compilation  made  at  the  request  of 
''The  German  Society  for  Poor  Relief  and  Charity, ""  (Ueutschen  Verein  fiir 
Armenpflege  und  Wohlthiitigkeit)  by  Dr.  Victor  Bohmert,  "  Poor  Relief  in  77 
German  Cities,"  Dresden,  published  by  the  Bureau  of  Charitable  Statistics  of 
the  German  Society  for  Poor  Relief  and  Charity. 


2l6        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

support  in  matters  where  only  large  gifts  could  be  of  service  and  the 
resources  of  a  single  society  would  not  suffice. 

In  April,  1889,  further  progress  was  made  in  Mittweida.  They 
decided  to  found  a  "Central  Bureau  of  Information  for  Poor  Relief" 
for  the  use  of  the  public.  This  central  bureau  is  not  a  part  of  the 
municipal  department  of  the  poor,  but  is  a  private  undertaking.  The 
office  of  manager  is  an  honorary  one  and  is  bestowed  on  some  dis- 
tinguished citizen,  after  mature  deliberation  by  the  conference  of  direc- 
tors of  the  five  benevolent  societies.  He  himself  cannot  be  president 
of  any  of  the  interested  societies.  The  purpose  of  this  central  bureau 
is  "to  effect  a  concentration  of  all  private  poor  relief  in  Mittweida." 
They  try  to  attain  this  object  by  regularly  making  out  for  the  benefit 
of  the  boards  of  the  several  societies  at  the  central  bureau,  lists  of  per- 
sons relieved  by  individual  societies  and  of  persons  not  relieved,  though 
they  have  applied  for  aid. 

The  manager,  after  comparison  of  these  lists,  calls  the  attention  of 
the  directors  to  such  persons  as  make  a  business  of  begging,  and  from 
his  records  and  experience  keeps  the  boards  of  the  societies  and  benevo- 
lent individuals  informed  about  applicants  and  special  cases  of  destitu- 
tion. All  the  interested  societies  have  the  right  to  call  the  manager 
into  any  board  or  committee  meeting  to  advise  with  them,  and  at  the 
suggestion  of  the  several  societies,  the  City  Council  has  accorded  to 
him  the  privilege  of  having  a  voice  in  the  regular  sessions  of  the  city 
board  of  charities,  and  of  keeping  a  record  of  applications  for  relief 
which  are  accepted  and  rejected  at  these  sessions,  with  such  memoranda 
as  are  necessary  to  make  this  record  complete. 

The  features  of  the  system  in  operation  in  Mittweida  are  that  a  com- 
petent person  carries  in  his  head  and  on  his  books  all  the  facts  con- 
nected with  local  poor  relief,  and  that  he  is  designated  to  act  as  adviser 
to  all  visitors  to  the  poor,  official  or  voluntary.  This  system  evidently 
applies  only  to  communities  of  limited  extent,  and  requires  a  supply 
of  competent  persons.  The  verbal  interchange  of  information  among 
members  of  a  properly  constituted  board,  is  much  preferable  to  a  mere 
exchange  of  recorded  memoranda. 

While  in  the  small  and  medium  sized  cities  of  Germany  mentioned 
above,  a  variety  of  regulations  have  been  developed  to  guard  against 
the  harm  resulting  from  capricious  and  irregular  charity,  in  Berlin  an 
attempt  has  been  made  to  combine  the  regulations  described  above  for 
the  use  of  the  various  poor  districts  of  the  great  city.     The  famous 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  21  7 

"Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Poverty  in  Berlin,"  which  was  founded 
in  1869  by  Dr.  Strassmann,  president  of  the  lovyer  house  of  the  City 
Council,  (also  founder  of  the  "German  Society  for  Poor  Relief  and 
Charity")  and  which  to-day  has  members  scattered  over  every  part 
of  Berlin,  permits  its  representatives  to  take  part  in  the  sessions  of  the 
district  boards  or  poor  commissions,  which  are  the  centers  of  poor 
relief  in  Berlin.  On  the  other  hand,  the  representatives  of  public 
poor  relief  take  part  in  the  sessions  of  the  district  committees  of  the 
society.  In  every  poor  district  of  the  city  the  public  charity  commis- 
sion co-operates  harmoniously  with  the  private  district  committee  of  the 
society.  By  this  means  an  exchange  of  experiences  is  secured,  and  an 
uninterrupted  co-operation  of  public  and  private  charity  is  established. 

Besides  this,  in  Berlin  a  mutual  exchange  of  information  is  main- 
tained between  the  different  societies,  as  well  as  between  them  and  the 
public  boards.  By  a  series  of  well  tried  regulations  made  by  the  poor  de- 
partment, efforts  have  been  made  to  prevent  the  imposition  which  is  so 
easily  practised  on  boards  of  charities  and  benevolent  societies.  It  is 
prescribed,  for  instance,  in  the  instructions  for  the  conduct  of  business 
for  the  public  charity  commissions  of  Berlin  of  June  7,  1884,  in  para- 
graph 85  :  "  that,  as  a  rule,  applications  for  an  increase  of  current 
relief  within  the  first  two  months  after  a  change  of  residence  of  a  pau- 
per should  not  be  considered;"  for  it  has  often  happened  that  paupers 
of  a  district,  where  their  application  for  an  increase  has  been  refused,  have 
removed  to  another  in  the  hope  of  gaining  their  object  more  easily. 
By  paragraph  13  of  the  same  instructions,  the  chairman  of  a  charity 
commission  must  superintend  the  affairs  of  the  poor  in  his  district,  and 
keep  himself  informed  as  to  the  work  of  all  benevolent  societies  and 
individuals  in  the  district,  so  that  he  may  know  how  the  poor  who 
apply  to  his  commission  are  already  taken  care  of.  It  is  his  special 
duty  to  attend  the  sessions  of  the  district  committee  of  the  Society  for 
the  Prevention  of  Poverty,  either  in  person,  or  by  his  substitute,  or  by 
another  member. 

The  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Poverty  in  Berlin  has  since  its 
foundation  exerted  itself  unceasingly  to  establish  an  organic  co-opera- 
tion between  the  benevolent  societies  of  Berlin  and  the  agents  of  public 
poor  relief.  Dr.  Strassmann,  who  was  for  many  years  president  of  the 
society,  did  not  succeed  in  having  the  mutual  relations  between  public 
and  private  poor  relief  regulated  by  statute;  but  at  his  suggestion,  and 
shortly  before  his  death    in    1886,  the  establishment  of  a  common  cen- 


2lS        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

tral  office  on  the  model  of  the  Bureau  of  Information  for  Poor  Relief 
and  Charity  of  Dresden,  to  which  all  benevolent  societies  should  report, 
was  decided  upon,  and  its  establishment  guaranteed  by  the  Berlin  board 
of  charities.  This  plan  has  not  yet  been  put  into  practice  in  Berlin 
and  the  organization  of  poor  relief  in  Berlin  is  still  in  an  incomplete  con- 
dition. 

Before  the  Dresden  regulations  above  referred  to  are  described,  the 
attempts  to  regulate  private  benevolence  in  Austria,  should  be  briefly 
noticed". 

4.   Efforts  to  regulate  private  beneiwlence  in  Austria. 

According  to  Professor  Mischler's  book,  "Poor  Relief  in  Austrian 
Cities,"  attempts  were  made  in  Austria  previous  to  those  in  Germany 
to  prevent  the  injurious  effects  of  relief  giving  by  private  societies.  As 
early  as  1882  (really  in  1864),  an  attempt  was  made  in  Vienna  to 
secure  co-operation  between  the  benevolent  societies  of  Vienna  and 
public  poor  relief  by  statute.  But  it  was  a  complete  failure.  A  start 
in  the  same  direction  was  made  in  Graz  (population  in  1890,  97,791), 
where  the  plan  was  adopted  of  giving  a  seat  and  voice  in  the  municipal 
administrative  board  to  representatives  of  such  societies  as  had  applied 
for  and  been  given  the  privilege  by  the  local  government.  Also  in 
Trent  (1890,  19,585),  where  at  regular  intervals  consultations  are  held 
between  the  executive  committees  of  the  charitable  institutions,  (^Con- 
gregazione  di  Carita^  and  the  municipal  board  of  charities;  also  in 
Brunn  (1890,  147,842),  where  poor  relief  was  left  entirely  to  a 
private  society  from  1816  to  1866.  The  "Men's  Benevolent  Society  to 
Abolish  Begging  and  Relieve  the  Really  Poor"  of  that  place,  to  which 
a  "Woman's  Benevolent  Society"  was  attached,  was  absorbed  in  1840 
by  the  old  Parochial  Institute  for  the  Poor.  On  the  executive  com- 
mittee of  this  society,  representatives  of  the  state,  city,  and  church 
have  seats  beside  members  of  the  society.  The  eight  parochial  dis- 
tricts were  placed  under  the  central  board  of  this  society,  and  this  board 
administered  the  funds  of  the  charitable  institutions  with  the  help  of 
contributions  from  the  city  and  state.  This  condition  of  affairs  con- 
tinued until  1866,  when  poor  relief  passed  under  the  control  of  the 
local  government. 

Finally,  in  the  manufacturing  city  of  Gablonz  a.  N.  in  Northern 
Bohemia  (1890,  14,653),  according  to  Professor  Mischler,  the  muni- 
cipal poor  relief  was  actually  transferred  to  the  "Society  for  the -Pre- 
vention of  House  and  Street  Begging."     The  Gablonz  system  proposes 


CHARITY    ORGANIZAIION.  219 

to  commit  the  management  of  poor  relief  entirely  to  the  society,  /'.  e., 
to   the   co-operation  of  honorary  officers   taken  from    the   most  widely 
different  classes  of  society,  and  to  raise  the  material  means  for  the  relief 
of  the   poor  by  levying  a  poor   tax  on   the  community.     The   burgo- 
master of  Gablonz  is  president  of  the  society. 

The  business  and  financial  management  is  assigned  to  members  of 
the  municipal  poor  districts,  while  the  remaining  official  positions  are 
generally  assigned  to  members  of  the  upper  and  lower  houses  of  the 
Common  Council  and  other  capable  citizens.  As  far  as  the  voluntary 
contributions  of  the  members  of  the  society  do  not  suffice,  they  are  sup- 
plemented from  the  public  treasury;  and  legal  provision  is  made  for  an 
appropriation  to  cover  all  the  expenses  of  the  society. 

5.  'The  Municipal  Bureau  of  Information  for  Poor  Relief  and 
Charitx  in  Dresden. 

The  city  of  Dresden,  which  in  1880  had  a  population  of  220,818,  and 
in  1890,  276,522,  about  April  i,  1880,  re-organized  its  poor  relief  after 
the  model  of  the  Elberfeld  system.  Before  the  introduction  of  the 
Elberfeld  system  there  were  in  Dresden  in  1877,  with  its  population  of 
over  200,000,  only  t^t^  poor  directors  and  41  overseers  for  1583  paupers. 
On  the  23rd  of  March,  1880,  a  peaceable  army  of  400  official  overseers 
was  formally  installed  into  the  new  offices.  And  it  was  provided  in 
the  new  regulations  that  as  a  rule  not  more  than  five  persons  or  families 
should  be  assigned  to  one  overseer  at  once.  At  the  same  time  a  large 
private  "Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Pauperism  and  Mendicancy" 
was  founded,  which,  on  March  10,  1880,  sent  out  an  appeal  to  the  citi- 
zens of  Dresden  to  join,  and  in  a  few  weeks  received  more  than  4,000 
members  and  yearly  contributions  of  over  22,000  marks.  This  society 
next  established  a  central  office  to  which  local  and  transient  paupers 
were  referred  for  relief,  and  where  every  one  could  receive  information 
regarding  destitute  persons. 

It  also  erected  an  institute  for  voluntary  helpers  of  both  sexes  and  in 
this  way  attracted  a  large  body  of  women  to  the  work,  a  matter  which 
up  to  that  time  had  not  been  thought  of  by  the  public  relief  department. 
The  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Pauperism  directed  its  activity  more  and 
rfiore  towards  the  prevention  of  destitution.  For  this  purpose,  it  estab- 
lished among  other  things  a  rent  savings  bank,  workshops  for  residents 
and  transients  out  of  work,  and  an  employment  bureau.  Recently,  it 
has  undertaken  to  build  small  dwellings  for  families  without  means. 
As  early  as   1881  a  desire  was  awakened   in  this  society  to  form  closer 


2  20        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

relations  with  the  other  benevolent  societies,  more  than  fifty  in  number, 
and  to  make  a  combination  with  them  that  would  secure  a  proper  dis- 
tribution of  private  charity  work  in  Dresden.  The  great  object  of  this 
arrangement  was  to  advance  the  moral  and  material  welfare  of  the 
entire  community. 

The  outlines  of  such  a  combination  were  given  more  in  detail  by  the 
author  of  these  lines  in  an  essay:  "The  Organization  and  Co-operation 
of  Public  and  Private  Charity  in  Dresden,"  in  1881,  in  part  two  of  the 
Arbeiterfretind,  (Laborers'  Friend). 

In  the  discussions  on  the  co-operation  of  all  the  benevolent  societies 
of  Dresden,  it  soon  became  apparent  that  to  establish  a  closer  co-opera- 
tion among  the  voluntary  societies  would  be  peculiarly  difficult,  because 
each  individual  society  would  have  to  put  itself  on  an  equal  footing 
with  all  the  others  and  must  avoid  all  self  assertion  or  criticism  of 
undertakings  related  to  its  own.  It  was  also  evident  that  the  organiza- 
tion of  so  many  societies  in  a  large  city  would  not  in  itself  be  sufficient, 
but  that  the  combination  must  depend  upon  and  eventually  be  subor- 
dinated to  the  public  relief.  I'he  committee  of  the  poor  board,  which 
was  taken  into  the  counsels  of  the  society,  was  forced  to  conclude  that 
it  was  its  duty  to  proceed  independently  and  establish  a  central  bureau 
of  information  as  a  public  municipal  institution,  and  to  call  upon  the 
different  societies  to  join  in  the  officially  prepared  plans,  and  enter  into 
closer  relations  with  one  another,  as  well  as  with  the  public  relief.  Out 
of  these  deliberations  grew  in  1883  the  "Central  Bureau  of  Poor  Relief 
and  Charity"  of  Dresden,  which  has  proved  a  help  to  all  societies  and 
private  citizens  of  the  city  in  the  administration  of  their  charity  and  an 
excellent  centre  of  information.  And  it  has  been  imitated  in  several 
large  German  cities. 

From  this  central  bureau  the  societies  are  informed  whether  appli- 
cants appear  by  the  records  to  be  worthy  or  unworthy ;  whether  they 
have  ever  been  punished  for  violation  of  law  ;  whether  and  to  what 
extent  they  have  previously  received  relief;  whether  they  have  acquired 
the  right  of  settlement  in  Dresden,  or  have  emigrated  recently;  whether 
they  have  presented  applications  to  the  city  board  of  charities  and 
to  other  societies  at  the  same  time,  etc.  It  is  customary  in  Dresden  for 
the  benevolent  societies  generally  to  hand  over  incoming  applications 
for  relief  to  the  central  bureau  of  the  city  board  of  charities  for  infor- 
mation. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  221 

The  central  bureau  distributes  to  the  different  benevolent  societies 
special  forms  for  this  purpose.  It  also  sends  question  blanks  containing 
special  headings  for  such  questions  as  can  be  filled  out  only  by  the 
central  bureau,  on  which  the  several  societies  enter  particulars  as  to 
each  applicant.  The  central  bureau  is  accustomed  to  return  the  appli- 
cations and  blanks  or  forms  as  soon  as  possible  to  the  societies;  and  it  is 
their  duty  to  make  a  careful  investigation  of  the  condition  of  the  appli- 
cant or  his  family,  in  case  the  information  received  does  not  necessitate 
a  refusal  of  relief.  The  action  of  Bern,  does  not  however,  tally  with 
this  view.  There  the  committee  of  the  Charities  Aid  Society  dismissed 
the  proposition  to  establish  a  central  bureau  of  information  for  poor 
relief  and  charity  on  the  ground  that 

"  A  thorough  knowledge  of  the  special  circumstances  of  the  poor 
cannot  be  obtained  at  all  through  the  medium  of  a  central  bureau,  but 
only  through  the  precinct  officer;  and,  for  the  present,  decentralization 
alone  can  solve  the  problem  both  for  official  and  voluntary  poor  relief." 

The  central  bureau  gives  no  special  information,  but  answers  only  cer- 
tain very  important  general  questions;  for  instance,  whether  the  applicant 
has  been  punished  at  any  time  by  either  the  law  or  police  courts,  his 
time  of  residence,  and  other  points  to  which  answers  can  be  obtained 
only  from  an  official  source. 

This  official  information  does  not  deprive  a  society  of  the  right  of 
making  a  special  investigation  of  the  personal  affairs  of  the  applicant, 
and  in  no  way  limits  its  power  of  deciding  upon  the  application  ;  of 
course,  any  suggestions  from  the  poor  board,  as  to  refusing  relief  to 
persons  who  are  afraid  of  work,  drunkards,  or  such  as  wish  to  acquire 
the  right  of  settlement  by  fraud,  are  as  a  rule  gratefully  received. 

Not  only  for  societies,  but  for  private  persons  who  are  applied  to  for 
help,  such  information  regarding  unknown  persons  is  important.  It  is 
therefore  advisable  from  time  to  time  to  direct  the  attention  of  a  com- 
munity to  the  bureau  of  information  for  poor  relief  and  charity  and  to 
encourage  them  to  make  use  of  it. 

Every  poor  board,  by  establishing  a  bureau  of  information,  can  little 
by  little  make  itself  acquainted  with  all  relief  given  in  the  community, 
whether  public  or  private,  and  can  have  the  relief  entered  in  a  special 
register,  under  the  name  of  the  person  relieved  or  in  a  card  catalogue 
containing  a  special  card  for  each  case.  In  this  way  the  poor  board 
keeps  a  continual  oversight  of  the  condition  of  poor  relief;  of  the 
increase   and    decrease   of  ap])lications ;   of  the    coming  and   going  of 


22  2        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

applicants.  The  board  is  placed  in  a  position  to  readily  detect  profes- 
sional beggars,  to  guard  against  superfluous  relief  in  single  instances,  to 
watch  over  the  acquisition  of  the  right  of  settlement,  and  to  render 
valuable  service  to  societies  and  private  persons  by  means  of  its  register 
and  card  catalogue. 

Individual  applications  for  relief  coming  from  what  we  may  term  the 
uncomplaining  poor,  or  rather  the  relief  itself  may  occasionally  present 
special  difficulties.  It  may  at  times  appear  impracticable  to  hand  in 
these  applications  to  the  bureau  of  information  for  discussion  beforehand. 
On  the  other  hand  it  is  impossible  to  deny  to  the  board  of  charities  a 
special  interest  in  informing  themselves  as  to  the  condition  of  such 
persons  and  their  families,  since  the  management  of  special  funds  for 
the  support  of  the  uncomplaining  poor  is  often  committed  to  it.  In 
Dresden  the  chairman  of  the  poor  department  himself  keeps  a  special 
register  of  the  uncomplaining  poor.  The  fundamental  principles  of 
the  Dresden  central  bureau  for  poor  relief  and  charity  were  thoroughly 
discussed  in  a  meeting  of  the  representatives  of  public  and  private  poor 
relief  held  in  November,  1882,  and  having  been  accepted  in  every  essen- 
tial particular,  were  put  into  effect  March  1st,  1883.  During  an  active 
existence  of  ten  years  the  Dresden  central  bureau  has  materially  reduced 
professional  mendicancy,  and  successfully  prevented  excessive  giving  to 
either  individuals  or  families.  Many  undeserving  persons  have  in  these 
ten  years  been  cut  off  from  charitable  relief,  and  many  newcomers  in 
needy  circumstances  have  been  prevented  from  obtaining  the  right  of 
settlement.  From  published  statistics  covering  the  years  from  1883  to 
1891  inclusive  it  appears  that  during  that  period  23,235  applications 
for  relief  were  passed  upon.  Of  these,  however,  only  13,112  obtained 
relief  from  societies  or  individuals  and  to  the  rest  it  was  denied. 

In  the  latter  year  fifty-two  societies  co-operated  in  this  work.  The  fact 
that  more  than  10,000  applications,  concerning  which  the  central  bureau 
had  given  information,  were  refused,  is  a  proof  of  the  practical  utility 
of  and  necessity  for  this  whole  organization.  F"rom  the  statistics  given 
farther  on  in  this  paper  it  appears  that,  especially  of  late  years,  more  than 
half  of  all  the  applications  were  not  deemed  proper  cases  for  relief. 

In  a  conference  of  the  boards  of  the  charitable  societies  of  Dresden 
called  together  by  the  chairman  of  the  city  board  of  charities,  on  the 
23d  of  November,  1S89,  the  opinion  was  unanimously  expressed  that  the 
co-operation  of  charitable  organizations  inaugurated  by  the  establish- 
ment of  the  central  bureau,  had  proved  an  excellent  policy,  and   that 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  223 

any  further  progress  should  be  made  along  the  lines  of  this  union. 
Although  previously  some  of  the  Dresden  societies  had  worked  together 
in  isolated  instances  to  relieve  cases  of  exceptionally  pressing  need,  in 
future  this  joint  relief  was  to  be  regulated  by  the  official  central  bureau, 
which  was  to  co-operate  with  the  societies.  The  representatives  of  the 
various  societies  further  expressed  the  desire  that  conferences  of  the 
boards  of  the  different  societies  should  be  called  at  regular  intervals,  in 
which  technical  and  legal  questions  relating  to  the  poor  might  be  dis- 
cussed, and  an  exchange  of  experiences  and  a  closer  affiliation  rendered 
possible. 

To  facilitate  the  imitation  of  this  Dresden  system  it  may  be  well  to 
introduce  here  a  few  official  data. 

(v4)  The  principal  grounds  of  association  in  Dresden  between  chari- 
table societies  and  public  poor  relief. 

1.  In  Dresden  all  private  societies  and  institutions  of  a  charitable 
nature  or  for  the  care  of  the  sick  or  poor  co-operate  with  the  official 
system. 

2.  The  objects  of  this  co-operation  are  :  {a)  The  entire  abolition,  or 
at  least  the  greatest  possible  limitation  of  professional  mendicancy. 
{b)  The  prevention  of  excessive  gifts  to  individuals  or  families.  (<:)  The 
rejection  of  unworthy  persons.  (</)  The  cutting  off  of  indigent  new- 
comers from  private  relief,  {e)  Uniformity  of  action  in  procuring  relief 
in  times  of  general  distress. 

3.  For  the  attainment  of  the  objects  named  above  in  2,  (a)  to  (^/),  each 
association  pledges  itself:  (a)  To  submit  to  the  bureau  of  poor  relief 
for  preliminary  discussion  all  applications  for  relief  laid  before  it  or 
directly  presented  to  it,  except  applications  for  sick  relief.  Vide  4. 
{b)  To  report  monthly  to  the  bureau  every  case  of  relief  granted, 
whether  in  money,  in  kind,  or  in  meal  tickets,  or  sick  or  medical  relief, 
or  even  when  it  takes  the  form  of  temporary  or  permanent  consign- 
ment to  homes,  asylums  or  educational  institutions.  (^)  To  follow  the 
suggestions  of  the  bureau  respecting  the  unworthiness  of  certain  persons, 
absolutely  in  so  far  as  concerns  their  right  of  settlement,  and  in  other 
respects  so  far  as  practicable. 

4.  The  preliminary  discussions  mentioned  above  in  3,  (a),  cover  the 
right  of  settlement,  the  character  of  the  applicant,  as  disclosed  by  the 
records,  the  public  or  private  relief  previously  received  by  him,  and  the 
propriety  of  admitting  outside  or  state  paupers  to  participation  in  the 
enjoyment  of  the  funds  of  the  associations. 


224 


INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


5.  The  result  of  the  discusions  upon  any  of  the  above  points,  which 
follow  as  promptly  as  possible  the  receipt  of  the  applications,  are  officially 
noted  on  each  application  and  it  is  then  returned  to  the  society  from 
which  it  came. 

6.  The  relief  reported  as  mentioned  above,  3,  (^b),  must  be  entered 
upon  the  records  of  the  respective  cases  or  where  there  is  no  such  record, 
in  a  register  provided  for  the  purpose. 

7.  A  special  officer  is  appointed  for  the  central  bureau  by  the 
Council  of  Dresden,  who  has  charge  of  the  preliminary  discussions 
mentioned  above  and  whose  duty  it  is  to  keep  a  register,  to  make 
for  each  of  the  associations  a  list  of  their  applications  for  relief,  to  make 
proper  entries  of  these  upon  the  general  record,  and  to  send  reports 
to  the  registration  officers  of  the  respective  societies  for  entry  upon 
their  records  of  cases. 

(^B.)  An  appeal  to  the  citizens  of  Dresden  to  make  use  of  the  muni- 
cipal bureau  of  information. 

With  the  advent  of  the  cold  weather  and  stimulated  by  the  approach 
of  the  Christmas  season,  increased  demands  are  made  upon  private 
charity.  It  is  certainly  the  wish  of  every  giver  to  bestow  his  charity 
only  upon  those  who  are  really  worthy  and  in  need  of  it.  In  this  con- 
nection the  systematic  co-operation  of  private  charitable  societies  with 
public  relief,  now  of  some  years  standing,  has  proved  most  effective  and 
been  blessed  with  the  happiest  results.  Public  relief  would,  however, 
have  a  far  better  and  wider  scope,  if  the  charitable  instincts  of  indivi- 
duals were  better  instructed.  Many  well  known  and  habitual  beggars, 
who  dread  publicity,  know  how  to  work  skillfully  several  sources  of 
relief  at  the  same  time,  and  live  by  begging  better  than  many  of  their 
fellows  who  have  to  earn  their  bread  by  hard  labor.  The  necessity  for 
caution  cannot,  therefore,  be  too  strongly  urged,  and  it  is  fervently  to 
be  wished  that  before  granting  relief  individuals  would  satisfy  them- 
selves, as  do  the  societies,  of  the  worthiness  and  need  of  the  beggar. 
Opportunity  for  discussion  on  these  points  is  afforded  by  the  local 
bureau  of  poor  relief.  As  it  has  often  declared  publicly,  all  persons 
may  obtain  at  its  central  bureau,  Landhaustrasse,  No.  7,  I,  prompt  and, 
of  course,  free  information  in  reply  to  all  written  or  verbal  questions  as 
to  applicants  for  relief.  The  use  made  of  this  bureau  of  information 
is  deserving  of  all  the  more  consideration,  from  the  fact  that  its 
object  is  not  to  restrict  private  charity,  but  only  to  guide  it. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION. 


22; 


•(C)  Statistics  of  the  Dresden  Municipal  Bureau  of  Information  for 
Poor  Relief  and  Charity. 


Charitable  societies 

Ajjplications  for  re-    Number  of  applica- 

Propositions  of  the 

and  institutions  re- 

lief reported  to  the    tions  for  relief  gran- 

Bureau  of  Poor  Re- 

porting   the    reliet 

Bureau  of  Informa-    ted   by   the   several 

lief  to  the  Royal  Po- 

granted to  the  bur- 

tion by  societies,  in-    societies   in  accord- 

lice  Department  as 

eau  of  Information. 

stitutions  and  indi-    ance  with   Inforraa- 

to  the  definition  and 

viduals  for  the  pur-    tion    given    by    the 

punishment  of  men- 

pose   of    obtaining    Bureau  of  Informa- 

dicancy. 

written  informa-  !  Hon. 

tion.                             ! 

1883 

49 

1875 

II37 

'March  to 

December) 

1884 

52 

2198 

t6i8 

6 

1885 

50 

2456 

1495 

2 

1886 

50 

2130 

1537 

4 

1887 

47 

2418 

1358 

1888 

51 

2755                            1283 

1889 

53 

2979 

1552 

1890 

53 

3062 

1506 

1891 

52 

3362 

1626 

23-235 

13,112 

6.   Concluding  Remarks. 

From  what  has  been  said  above  this  lesson  may  be  drawn,  that  the 
co-operation  of  public  and  private  poor  relief  works  no  harm,  but 
rather  profit.  All  who  are  ready  and  feel  called  to  share  in  the  work 
of  relief  must  bring  their  freedom  of  action  in  the  matter  of  benevolence 
into  harmony  with  the  oneness  of  the  object  in  view  and  with  their  duty 
to  the  community. 

The  charitable  societies  will  gradually  place  themselves  more  and 
more  at  the  service  of  the  community,  or  actually  become  absorbed  into 
the  public  relief  administration,  as  is  already  the  case  in  Elberfeld  and 
to  a  certain  extent  in  Crefeld,  two  model  cities  in  the  line  of  the  organi- 
zation of  poor  relief.  Of  course  the  care  of  the  poor  cannot  be  every- 
where organized  on  one  and  the  same  plan,  but  different  systems  for 
effecting  the  co-operation  of  the  various  societies  and  public  boards 
must  be  employed  according  as  the  community  is  a  large,  moderate 
sized  or  small  one.  Only  experience  can  decide  whether  the  end  to  be 
aimed  at   is   not  rather  a   common  co-operation  of  societies  and  com- 

15 


2  26        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

munities  working  together  as  a  united  whole,  than  an  organization  of 
various  bodies  working  on  parallel  lines. 

The  attainment  of  this  end  can  be  accelerated  by  collecting  the  ex- 
periences of  many  communities,  states  and  peoples,  comparing  them 
with  each  other  and  carefully  testing  their  value,  as  is  contemplated  at 
this  International  Congress.  The  various  civilized  nations  exhibit  great 
differences  in  their  systems  and  methods  of  poor  relief,  and  can  learn 
much  of  each  other  as  to  the  use  of  the  proper  appliances  for  relief  and 
the  means  of  alleviating  human  suffering.  It  is  especially  advisable  to 
strive  for  unity  of  purpose.  The  chief  aim  of  poor  relief  must  be  to 
combat  the  causes  of  bodily,  spiritual  and  moral  need.  These  causes 
lie  partly  in  the  circumstances  of  the  individual,  very  often  in  the 
fault  of  the  person  in  need  of  relief,  but  partly  also  in  conditions  which 
are  general,  and  in  the  lack  of  love,  sympathy,  justice  and  compassion, 
which  is  so  common  a  fault  in  social  life  and  international  intercourse. 
Not  only  individuals  and  different  classes  of  society,  but  whole  nations 
injure  each  other  by  inconsiderate  self-seeking,  envy,  'hatred,  enmity 
and  war;  whereas  it  is  their  duty  to  live  together  in  peace  and  unity, 
and  by  joint  labor  and  free  exchange  of  the  fruits  of  that  labor,  to  con- 
tribute to  the  advancement  of  their  material  welfare,  and  to  prevent  the 
mutual  destruction  of  each  other's  property. 

Of  still  greater  importance  is  it  that  the  nations  should  exchange  with 
each  other  their  spiritual  goods,  their  inner  experiences,  and  learn  of 
each  other  better  manners,  useful  methods,  profounder  wisdom  and 
virtue. 

International  Exhibitions  and  World's  Congresses  are  intended  for 
the  special  purpose  of  bringing  nations  together,  and  causing  them  to 
see  the  spiritual  and  moral  unity  of  man,  and  his  community  of  pur- 
pose. In  the  sphere  of  poor  relief  and  charity  every  nation  must  strive 
to  combat  not  only  the  physical  but  also  the  spiritual  and  moral 
wretchedness  of  humanity.  Since  poverty  results  in  many  instances 
only  from  the  pursuit  of  self,  pleasure  or  drink,  from  dissipation  or  im- 
morality, the  roots  of  the  evil  must  be  extirpated,  and  the  human  soul 
purified  and  refined.  The  chief  object  to  be  pursued  and  the  chief 
means  to  be  used  in  the  care  of  the  poor  is  the  care  of  the  soul.  Not 
only  must  the  souls  of  the  poor  and  the  alms  receiving  class  be  cared  for, 
enlightened  and  disciplined,  but  the  souls  of  the  rich  and  alms-giving 
class  as  well,  in  fact  the  souls  of  all  classes  of  society.  The  number  of 
those  who  help  and  care  for  the  poor  can  never  be  large  enough  in  any 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION'.  227 

community  ;  and  beside  every  one  who  needs  help  should  stand  some  one 
ready  to  help  him  as  a  true  friend.  "Not  alms  but  a  friend  "  must  be 
the  watchword.  Through  our  care  for  the  poor  we  will  come  to  learn 
to  look  upon  all  our  fellow  beings  as  our  brothers  and  sisters  and  lovingly 
to  serve  them  according  to  our  strength.  Side  by  side  with  the  weal  of 
the  individual  we  should  ever  keep  clearly  in  view  the  common  welfare 
of  the  community  and  the  State  and  the  lasting  advancement  of  the 
well  being  of  mankind. 


2  28        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


THE  PEOPLE'S  CLUB,   "  VOLKSWOHL,"    OF   DRESDEN.     ITS 
EVENING  ENTERTAINMENTS  AND  HOMES  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

BY    DR.    VICTOR    BOHMERT. 

[TRANSLATION.] 

I.    General  Remarks   on   Efforts  for  the  Welfare  of  Mankind  and  of 
the  People. 

We  are  living  in  an  age  of  labor  agitation  and  efforts  for  the  welfare 
of  the  laborer.     A  generation  ago  Mr.  Gladstone,  the  English  Prime 
Minister,  spoke  of  the  present  as   "the  workingman's  century."     The 
changes   taking   place  in  the  views  and  opinions  of  men  seem   to  point 
to  the  consummation  of  a  great  movement  toward  social  improvement 
before  the  end  of  the  century.      On  one  of  the  most  frequented  thorough- 
fares  in   the   East  end  of  London,  where  the   population  of  the  city  of 
five  million  souls  is  densest,  and  where,  too,  the  greatest  misery  exists, 
a  grand   palace  was  erected   some  eight  years   ago,  surrounded   by  gar- 
dens, play  grounds  and  public  baths.     The  interior  contains  one  of  the 
largest  halls  in  the  world,  besides  many  smaller  annexes  in  which  may 
be   found   a  library,  class-rooms,  entertainment   and   sitting   rooms,  a 
small  museum,  etc.     All  of  these  arrangements  are  intended  chiefly  for 
the  benefit  of  the  laboring  people  of  the  East  End  and  are  the  results 
of  public  spirit.     The  name  People's  Palace  was  given  to  it,  instead 
of  Working  People's  Palace,   and  its   object    is    to  further    the  well- 
being  of  the   people  generally.     In  nearly  all   languages  and  countries 
the   term    "working  people"  {urbeiter,  classe  ouvrie re)  is  often   inter- 
preted  in  a  very  narrow  sense.     It  has  generally  been  applied  only  to 
wage  workers  in  factories  and  larger  industries,  whose  condition  it  was 
sought  to  improve  by  means  of  labor  legislation  and  labor  insurance. 
It  was,  found,  however,  that  this  class  of  wage  workers  is  by  no  means 
the  poorest  paid  or  the  most  unfortunately  situated.     For  side  by  side 
with   them   are   the  small  mechanics,  the  helpers  and   apprentices   in 
smaller   vvork-shops,    the    clerks,    packers    and    porters    in    mercantile 
houses,  the  farm   hands  and   the   daily  increasing  number  of  office  em- 
ployees in  the  larger  cities,  all  of  whom  deserve  as  much  attention  and 
protection  as  the  workmen  in  the  larger  industrial  establishments.     The 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  229 

masses  of  either  sex,  whether  occupied  in  manual  or  mental,  indoor 
or  outdoor  labor,  have  as  great  a  claim  to  the  protection  of  the  author- 
ities and  to  the  public  spirited  services  of  their  more  fortunate  fellow 
men  as  the  factory  operatives.  It  is  therefore  high  time  that  we  recog- 
nize by  our  acts  and  public  expressions  the  fact  that  future  efforts  for 
the  general  welfare  must  be  called  by  another  name  than  "  work  for 
the  laborer's  welfare."  The  efforts  for  social  improvement  of  the  pre- 
sent day  are  directed  towards  lifting  the  masses  out  of  misery  and  igno- 
rance to  a  loftier  cultivation  and  a  higher  moral  standard.  Their 
object  is  the  general  welfare  and  they  begin  with  the  care  of  our  near- 
est neighbors.  Following  this  line  of  development,  societies  have  been 
founded  in  a  number  of  German  cities,  during  the  past  decade,  known  as 
"societies  for  general  welfare,"  {Vereine  fur  Volkszuohl).  They  seek  to 
advance  the  well-being  of  mankind  without  distinction  of  class,  age, 
religion,  politics  or  nativity. 

What  follows  is  an  account  of  only  one  of  these  societies,  the  People's 
Club  i^Volksklub)  of  Dresden,  called  Volksivohl  {public  welfare).  It 
will  serve  as  an  illustration  of  the  growth  of  this  very  recent  movement 
for  the  improvement  of  humanity. 

II.  Origin  and  Development  of  Popular  Evening  Entertainments 
(  Volksunterhaltungsabende). 

The  People's  Club  is  an  off-shoot  from  the  District  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  the  Abuse  of  Spirituous  Drinks  {Bezirksverein  gegen  den 
Misshrauch  geistiger  Getranke),  and  a  step  in  advance  of  the  popular 
evening  entertainments  arranged  by  the  latter  society.  The  object  of 
this  temperance  organization,  founded  in  1884,  was  from  the  very 
beginning  not  only  to  work  against  the  intemperate  use  of  alcohol, 
but  while  doing  so  to  establish  places  where  higher  enjoyments  and 
recreation  could  be  had.  It  adopted  in  its  programme,  among  other 
things,  (i)  series  of  popular  lectures  on  hygiene  and  nutrition,  (2)  'the 
institution  of  evening  entertainments  and  higher  forms  of  amusement 
for  the  people. 

A  committee  on  public  welfare  appointed  from  among  the  members 
of  the  temperance  society  undertook  the  entire  management  of  this 
part  of  the  programme.  The  first  large  evening  entertainment  was 
held  on  Sunday,  November  28,  1886,  and  the  committee  extended  a 
general  invitation  to  people  of  all  classes  in  Dresden  to  attend.  As  a 
large   hall   was  not   available   for  a  Sunday  evening,  the  Turnhall    in 


230        INTERNATIONAL   CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

Neustadt -Dresden,  with  a  seating  capacity  of  about   2000  persons,  was 
converted  into  an  entertainment  hall.     A  platform  was  constructed  for 
the  performers,   and   chairs   and   tables  arranged   in   the   hall   for   the 
audience.      Cards  of  admission  had  been  placed  with  manufacturers  and 
other  employers  of  labor,  as  well  as  with  labor  organizations,  so  that 
they  might  be  distributed  among  the  laboring  classes,  for  whom  the- 
entertainments  were  chiefly  intended.     The  services  of  working  people's 
singing  societies  were  also  secured  as  a  feature  of  the  entertainment. 
The  first  entertainment  was  fittingly  opened  with  Uhland's  beautiful 
German  hymn  ^'Das  ist der  Tag des  Herrnf  (This  is  the  Lord's  Day  I), 
set   to  music  by  Kreutzer,  and  rendered  by  the  singing  section  of  the 
Neustadt-Dresden  Turn -association,  with  organ  accompaniment.     After 
the  opening  hymn  the  chairman  of  the  committee    on    public    welfare 
made  an  address  of  welcome.     In  his  speech  he  dwelt  upon   the  fact 
that  the  public  evening  entertainments  were  intended  to  give  an  oppor- 
tunity for  mental  and  moral  refreshment  to  all  classes  without  regard 
to  rank  or  station,  religious  or  political  convictions.     He  said,  that  all' 
men  and  women  present  depended  upon  the  same  source  of  subsistence, 
namely,  labor,  and    that  it  mattered  not  what   the  nature  of  that  labor 
might   be,  whether   in   the   workshop,  in   the   factory,  in   the  counting 
room,  in   the  study,  in  the  office  or   in  the  open  fields,  and   he  advised 
every  one   to  be  energetic   in  his   own   sphere,  be   it   great  or  small. 
When  the  day's  or  week's  work   is  over  we  should  aim   to  encourage  a 
generous  sociability  and  a  proper  enjoyment  of  life,  partly  for  the  gen- 
eral good,  partly  for  the  special   good  of  persons  in  single  life,  and 
as  a  consequence  serve   ourselves.      This   fundamental   idea,   and  the 
aims  of  the  committee  as  expressed  at  the  opening  meeting,  have  con- 
tinued to  be  the  standard  of  development  of  this  project  in  Dresden, 
and  have  also  been  adopted  and  even  extended   in  other  German  and 
foreign  cities.     Wherever  the  example  of  Dresden  has  been  followed,  it 
has  soon  been  demonstrated  that  the  club  evenings,  instituted  for  members 
of  workingmen's  city  and   town   clubs,   and   the  parochial  evenings  of 
church  societies,  which   have  existed  for   years  in  Germany,  were   not 
sufficient  for  the  masses.     There  was   still  a   need   in  all   large  cities  of 
some  kind   of  association,  where   opportunities  for  unrestricted  social 
intercourse  and   entertainment  might    be  given   to  all   adult   persons 
regardless  of  club  affiliations,  religious  beliefs,  occupation  or  rank,  and 
where  all  might  find  intellectual  and  artistic  enjoyment  of  a  high  order,  to 
replace  the  public  houses  and  dance  halls  where  they  would  be  forced 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  231 

to  drink.  In  these  public  evenings  an  instructive  lecture  ought  always 
to  be  the  main  feature,  accompanied  by  musical  exercises,  recita- 
tions and  other  features  of  a  sober,  but  cheerful  character.  Choral  sing- 
ing, dramatic  and  historical  representations,  tales  of  travel,  popular 
classic  poetry,  stereopticon  illustrations,  and  other  proper  amusements 
may  well  be  given.  In  the  selection  of  subjects  for  instructive  lectures, 
the  efforts  of  the  Dresden  society  have  thus  far  been  confined  to  the 
sphere  of  public  education,  public  welfare,  public  health,  popular  art 
and  poetry,  and  to  biographies  of  persons  of  merit.  Unsolved  scien- 
tific problems  and  doubtful  questions  have  been  avoided,  attention  being 
given  rather  to  completed  results  of  scientific  research  which  are  little 
doubted,  and  to  expressing  in  popular  terms  such  conclusions  as  are 
generally  accepted  and  have  become  public  property. 

In  arranging  the  entertainments,  what  is  simple  and  beautiful,  pure 
and  noble,  and  truly  harmonious  in  art  and  poetry  was  selected,  rather 
than  what  is  speculative,  fashionable  and  showy.  Most  of  the  lectures 
were  delivered  gratuitously  by  professors  of  the  Dresden  technical  high 
school  and  physicians.  For  the  other  features  of  the  entertainments 
special  efforts  were  made  to  secure  the  assistance  of  those  classes  for 
whom  the  amusement  was  chiefly  intended,  for  example,  working  peo- 
ple's singing  societies  and  amateur  talent  from  amongst  the  poorer  peo- 
ple. Nevertheless,  prominent  artists  and  the  first  singing  societies  of 
Dresden  frequently  took  part  in  the  entertainments.  There  is  a  real 
absence  of  class  distinction,  all  participants  cheerfully  offering  their 
services  for  the  common  good.  During  the  six  years  of  the  existence 
of  these  public  evening  entertainments  there  has  never  been  the  slightest 
discord — in  fact  they  were  so  popular  that  additional  space  was  required. 
During  the  first  five  winters,  entertainments  were  held  once  every  month, 
on  Sundays  or  holidays,  in  the  large  hall  of  the  Turn-association  m  Neu- 
stadt-Dresden.  Last  winter,  however,  ten  additional  entertainments 
were  held  in  Dresden,  four  of  which  took  place  in  the  largest  hall  in 
Altstadt-Dresden,  which  could  be  obtained  only  on  Saturday  evenings. 
It  was  found  that  Saturday  was  not  a  bad  day  for  entertainments  of  this 
kind,  provided  that  in  the  interest  of  the  working  classes  the  perform- 
ances did  not  begin  until  8  P.  M.  The  result  of  this  was  that  many 
men  and  single  women  after  a  hard  day's  work  closed  the  week  peace- 
fully in  the  enjoyment  of  high  intellectual  and  artistic  amusements  and 
were  better  prepared  for  the  Sunday  rest  than  by  frequenting  public 
houses.     On  the  occasion  of  the  first  entertainment  in   the  Tivoli   Hall 


232        INTERNA'JIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

in  Dresden,  on  Saturday,  October  26,  1892,  the  hall,  which  holds  3,000 
persons,  was  completely  filled,  and  the  number  of  adherents  and  friends 
of  the  People's  Club  was  greatly  increased. 

It  is  worthy  of  special  mention  that  great  pains  are  taken  to  remove 
all  political  and  sectarian  feeling  from  the  evening  entertainments. 
Shortly  before  the  third  entertainment  of  the  society  was  held  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1887,  and  when  at  the  national  elections  all  the  candidates  of 
the  social  democratic  party  in  Saxony  had  suffered  defeat,  a  rumor  was 
spread  in  the  factories  that  this  entertainment  was  to  be  made  an  occa- 
sion for  celebrating  a  political  victory.  In  view  of  this  rumor,  the 
chairman  in  opening  the  entertainment  took  occasion  to  declare  that 
the  public  evening  entertainments  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
political  affairs,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  hoped  by  their  means  to 
bridge  over  the  gulf  which  separates  classes  and  parties.  He  also  said 
that  the  society  desired  to  win  over  persons  of  social  democratic  views 
to  this  movement  for  the  public  good. 

The  committee  on  public  welfare  considered  it  equally  important  to 
avoid,  in  these  public  entertainments,  all  religious  questions  which 
related  only  to  particular  sects.  There  are,  of  course,  thousands  in 
every  large  city  who  like  to  associate  only  with  people  who  agree  with 
them  in  politics  or  religion.  This  is  a  perfectly  legitimate  view,  but  it 
is  also  right  and  proper  that  associations  of  men  and  women  should 
exist  whose  primary  object  is  to  bring  about  a  friendly  understanding 
amongst  the  various  classes  and  creeds,  and  whose  members  gladly 
associate  with  persons  of  different  views  and  from  other  stations  of  life. 
At  any  rate,  experience  has  shown  that  in  many  small  as  well  as  large 
communities  in  all  countries  a  desire  prevails  seriously  to  encourage 
the  exercise  of  a  brotherly  spirit  towards  all  one's  fellows.  This  move- 
ment for  popular  evening  entertainments  has  spread  very  rapidly  during 
the  past  six  years,  and  not  only  has  it  taken  root  in  the  larger  German 
cities,  such  as  Berlin,  Hamburg,  Bremen,  Lubeck,  Leipzig,  Halle  and 
Dusseldorf,  but  also  in  the  medium  sized  and  smaller  towns,  such  as 
Kiel,  Bremerhaven,  Luneburg,  Gorlitz,  Flensberg,  Zittau,  Guben, 
Bromberg,  Elmshorn,  Husum,  etc.  In  many  rural  communities,  and 
even  on  islands  in  the  North  Sea,  popular  Sunday  evening  entertain- 
ments are  held  once  every  four  weeks  when  the  roads  are  lit  by  the  full 
moon.  And  in  some  cities  of  Austria  and  Switzerland  these  institutions 
have  been  imitated,  and  about  three  years  ago  popular  evening  enter- 
tainments were  started  in  Christiania,   Norway,  modelled  entirely  after 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  233 

those  in  Germany.  Last  winter  the  rural  community  of  Norik,  near 
Christiania,  followed  the  example  of  the  Norwegian  capital.  The  weekly 
organ  Volkswohl  which  appears  in  Dresden  contained  a  very  com- 
plete description  of  this  Norwegian  rural  institution. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  first  entertainment  the  invitations  were  distri- 
buted by  the  joint  action  of  an  employer,  a  workingman,  a  farmer,  a 
government  official  and  the  communal  administration  of  the  locality. 
Entertainments  of  this  character  cannot  always  be  modelled  after  the 
same  pattern.  In  a  rural  community,  for  instance,  where  religious  dif- 
ferences rarely  exist,  it  is  advisable  for  the  clergyman,  the  school 
teacher,  the  physician  and  perhaps  a  prominent  employer  to  take  the 
initiative.  These  persons  should  secure  the  co-operation  of  local  socie- 
ties or  individual  workingmen  and  farmers,  not  omitting  the  women, 
and  all  should  unite  in  distributing  the  invitations  and  arranging  and 
developing  the  scheme  in  accordance  with  the  needs  of  the  particular 
locality.  Officers  of  the  State  or  locality  should  not  take  part  in  their 
official  capacity,  but  should,  nevertheless,  as  private  citizens  use  every 
effort  to  further  the  success  of  schemes  for  public  recreation  and  the 
intellectual  development  of  the  adult  population. 

III.  Origin  and  Development  of  the  People' s  Homes  ( Volksheinie)  in 
Dresden.  / 

In  consequence  of  the  success,  which  the  public  evening  entertain- 
ments inaugurated  in  Dresden  in  1886,  met  with  everywhere,  the  exec- 
utive board  of  the  District  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  the  Abuse  of 
Spirituous  Drinks,  and  its  committee  on  public  welfare  appointed  in 
rSSS,  resolved  to  go  one  step  farther  in  fostering  sociability  among 
persons  of  all  ranks  and  creeds.  This  new  scheme  consisted  of  the 
establishment  of  social  centres  where  persons  might  meet,  not  only  once 
a  month,  but  at  all  times,  for  friendly  intercourse  and  mutual  education 
and  improvement.  These  centres  were  called  "People's  Homes," 
(  Volksheime.)  They  are  not  public  kitchens  nor  philanthropic  institu- 
tions, but  really  people's  club  houses  managed  by  the  members  them- 
selves, and  are  intended  to  be  self-supporting.  Plain  food  and  refresh- 
ments are  furnished  to  guests  at  low  fixed  prices,  schedules  of  the  latter 
being  posted  in  the  rooms.  The  essential  differences  between  them  and 
ordinary  taverns  and  restaurants  are  that  members  have  access  to  them 
at  all  times  without  being  required  to  spend  any  money;  that  they  con- 
tain reading  and  sitting   rooms,  libraries,   gardens  for  recreation,  and 


234        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

playgrounds  and  gymnasiums  for  young  people,  that  fresh  drinking 
water  is  always  on  hand  in  the  rooms  and  gardens,  that  the  attendants 
are  not  permitted  to  accept  fees  for  their  services,  and  no  partiality  is 
allowed  in  serving  guests.  In  fact,  most  of  the  guests  help  themselves 
to  food  and  drink  at  the  buffet. 

For  the  purpose  of  establishing  homes  of  this  kind  the  People's  Club 
was  founded  December  7,  1888.  By  the  end  of  December,  1892,  three 
homes  had  been  established.  The  founders  of  this  society  were,  with 
few  exceptions,  the  same  persons  who  originated  the  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  the  Abuse  of  Spirituous  Drinks  in  1884.  There  might 
not  have  been  any  necessity  for  creating  a  new  society,  as  the  old  one 
could  as  well  have  undertaken  the  establishment  of  people's  homes.  It 
was  done,  however,  because  many  persons,  though  they  approved  of  the 
object  of  the  parent  society,  objected  to  its  name,  which  had  been  con- 
tracted in  common  parlance  into  Drinking  Society  {Trunksuchts- 
verein)  and  feared  that  by  joining  a  society  of  that  name  they  might  be 
taken  for  drunkards  or  at  least  for  friends  of  alcoholism.  Many  mem- 
bers had  expressly  asked  that  the  monthly  journal  of  the  society,  which 
bore  the  name  Mitteilungen  gegen  Trunksucht  (Information  in  rela- 
tion to  Drunkenness),  should  not  be  delivered  at  their  homes,  because 
they  did  not  wish  to  arouse  a  suspicion  among  their  servants  that  they 
were  in  need  of  a  monthly  paper  to  warn  them  against  alcohol.  It  is 
at  times  advisable  to  take  the  prejudices  of  the  masses  into  account  in 
order  to  overcome  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  a  useful  institution.  For 
this  reason  the  executive  board  of  the  Dresden  society  publicly  appointed 
the  "Committee  on  Public  Welfare"  to  inaugurate  evening  entertain- 
ments instead  of  doing  so  itself,  and  afterwards  changed  the  name  of 
the  monthly  organ  of  the  society  to  Volksgesundheit,  Blatter  fur  Mas- 
sigkeit  und  gemeinutzige  Gesundheitspflege  (Public  Health,  a  Journal 
of  Temperance  and  Public  Hygiene.) 

As  another  means  of  avoiding  the  creation  of  a  new  society  it  was 
proposed  to  convert  the  parent  society  into  the  new  People's  Club. 
This  suggestion  was  not  received  with  favor.  The  old  society  already 
counted  a  membership  of  nearly  two  thousand  persons  contributing 
annual  dues  to  the  amount  of  about  4,000  marks  ($1,000)  and  had  a 
small  sum  in  its  treasury,  and  niiany  persons  objected  to  turning  over 
these  resources  to  the  new  society.  Then  again,  there  were  many  persons 
who  were  willing  to  contribute  towards  maintaining  a  society  having 
the    specific    object    of  combatting   drunkenness,    but    were    averse    to 


CHARIIY    ORGANIZATION.  235 

aiding  an  organization  bearing  the  more  comprehensive  name  of  Volks- 
wohl,  behind  which  they  suspected  a  doubtful  social  or  possibly  social 
democratic  scheme  was  lurking.  Only  recently,  a  Dresden  physician 
gave  5,000  marks  ($1,250)  to  the  District  Society  for  the  Prevention  of 
the  Abuse  of  Spirituous  Drinks,  because  in  his  daily  practice  he  observed 
the  undisguised  ravages  of  drink.  This  physician  was  not  a  member  of 
the  People's  Club  and  would  probably  not  have  made  the  donation  had 
the  new  society  superseded  the  old.  It  must  also  be  remarked  in  this 
connection  that  in  the  Dresden  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  the  Abuse 
of  Spirituous  Drinks,  the  small  annual  fee  of  50  pfennigs  (121^  cents) 
entitles  members  to  all  the  privileges  of  the  society,  including  admis- 
sion to  the  popular  evening  entertainments,  while  in  the  People's  Club 
an  annual  membership  fee  of  at  least  2  marks  (50  cents)  is  required. 

The  executive  board  of  the  club  did  not  hesitate  to  require  a  higher 
annual  membership  fee  than  the  old  society,  because  experience  had 
shown  that  in  the  latter  organization  there  were  many  persons,  even 
with  small  means,  who  voluntarily  contributed  more  than  was  asked  of 
them.  A  good  illustration  of  such  a  case  was  that  of  a  servant  girl, 
who  joined  the  society  shortly  after  the  first  of  the  evening  entertain- 
ments, and  agreed  to  pay  2  marks  (50  cents)  a  year  for  membership. 
The  officers  of  the  society,  knowing  that  the  girl  was  a  servant  in  a 
rather  modest  household,  gave  her  to  understand  that  only  50  pfennigs 
(i2i/^  cents)  were  required  and  that  this  would  entitle  her  not  only  to 
attend  the  entertainments,  but  to  receive  the  publications  and  reports 
of  the  society.  She  insisted,  however,  upon  paying  the  2  marks,  be- 
cause, as  she  said,  for  so  good  an  object  as  the  popular  evening  enter- 
tainments she  would  gladly  give  that  much  of  her  wages.  This  readi- 
ness to  contribute  on  the  part  of  the  members  of  the  old  society  has 
shown  itself  to  a  still  greater  extent  in  the  club,  because  the  aim  of  the 
latter  is  higher  and  its  field  of  work  greater. 

An  experience  of  four  years  has  demonstrated  that  they  were  in  the 
right,  who  had  claimed  that  two  distinct  societies  were  not  too  many, 
though  their  aims  were  so  similar.  There  are,  especially  in  large  cities, 
many  public  spirited  men  and  women  who  are  quite  willing  to  be 
doubly  taxed  for  a  good  object.  Many  members  of  the  society  whose 
annual  contributions  are  quite  considerable,  pay  at  the  same  time  still 
higher  annual  dues  into  the  treasury  of  the  club.  Some  time  ago  the 
society  erected  at  great  cost  a  people's  home  of  its  own,  which  it  after- 
wards turned  over  to  the  People's  Club. 


236        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

In  the  preceding  pages  we  have  endeavored  to  show  that  experience 
justifies  the  founding  of  new  societies  of  general  benefit,  because  there 
are  many  otherwise  worthy  men,  who  strongly  oppose  the  tendency  to 
private  organization  of  our  time  without  discrimination,  and  without 
considering  that  there  are  certain  new  problems  relating  to  the  improve- 
ment of  mankind,  which  can  never  be  solved  without  the  creation  of 
new  societies.  The  State  and  the  community  should  not  be  burdened 
with  everything  when  private  beneficence  is  quite  as  effective.  Had  it 
not  been  for  the  creation  of  the  new  People's  Club  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  garden  sites  in  Dresden  would  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
building  speculators.  This  was  the  estate  of  the  late  Princess  Pauline 
of  Schleswig-Holstein,  which  now  serves  as  a  people's  home  and  garden, 
a  refreshing  resting  place  for  thousands  of  adults,  and  a  healthy  play- 
ground for  many  more  children.  Upon  the  death  of  the  Princess 
Pauline  in  1888,  the  president  of  the  District  Society  for  the  Prevention 
of  the  Abuse  of  Spirituous  Drinks  obtained  an  option  for  several  months 
on  the  estate  at  a  price  of  188,000  marks  ($47,000).  In  the  meantime 
he  called  for  subscriptions  and  donations  from  citizens  of  Dresden  to 
cover  the  first  payment.  In  response  to  his  call  one  prominent  manu- 
facturer gave  20,000  marks  ($5,000),  another  5,000  marks  ($1,250),  a 
third  promised  an  annuity  of  2,000  marks,  and  many  others  promised 
annual  contributions  of  from  100  to  300  marks  ($25  to  $75).  The  ex- 
ecutive board  of  the  newly  created  club  hesitated,  however,  about  under- 
taking the  purchase  of  this  expensive  piece  of  property,  and  so  the 
option  at  the  same  figures  was  transferred  to  the  city,  which  acquired 
the  property  and  leased  it  to  the  club  for  a  people's  home. 

This  people's  home  and  grounds  are  in  Neustadt-Dresden  at  No.  7, 
Wasserstrasse.  The  estate  was  named  Paulinengarten,  after  the  late 
owner.  Since  its  opening,  it  has  become  a  great  centre  of  public  socia- 
bility. In  the  building  there  are  on  the  ground  floor  two  rooms  for 
social  entertainment  with  buffet  and  kitchen  adjoining,  and  a  spacious 
reading  room,  in  which  also  dinner  is  served  to  the  numerous  boarders 
who  come  there  at  midday.  A  fourth  room  contains  the  staircase  to  the 
second  floor.  Here  there  are  two  rooms  set  aside  as  business  ofiices 
for  the  club  and  the  society.  Two  other  rooms  on  this  floor  are  used 
during  the  winter  months  as  class  rooms  and  for  society  meetings. 
There  are  also  a  library  and  a  large  hall,  in  which  lectures,  meetings 
and  smaller  evening  entertainments  are  conducted. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  237 

The  chief  attraction  of  this  people's  home  is  the  large  garden,  which  is 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  ornaments  of  Dresden.  It  has  large  lawns 
and  magnificent  old  trees.  While  in  the  foreground  under  a  splendid 
group  of  plane-trees  a  grand  view  is  spread  out  of  the  Elbe,  covered 
with  life,  and  the  first  hills  of  Saxon  Switzerland,  at  whose  entrance  the 
towns  of  Loschwitz  and  Blasewitz  offer  a  friendly  greeting.  Here  under 
the  shady  trees  hundreds  of  working  people  and  others,  who  like  a  well 
prepared  dinner  at  25  pfennigs  (6}^  cents),  come  to  take  their  meals  in 
summertime.  Many  women  with  their  children  may  be  seen  here  in  the 
afternoon,  while  in  the  evening  and  on  Sundays  men  and  women  of  all 
classes  congregate.  The  garden  is  divided  into  two  parts,  one  for  adults, 
the  other  for  children.  That  for  adults  is  laid  out  as  a  park,  with  shady 
walks  and  quiet  nooks,  beautiful  lawns,  trees  and  shrubbery.  The 
other  and  more  important  section  of  the  garden  belongs  to  the  children 
and  is  subdivided  into  five  or  six  separate  parts.  There  are  several  sand 
piles  for  the  very  small  children,  an  enclosure  for  swings  which  are  con- 
stantly in  motion,  a  space  set  aside  for  such  games  as  require  the  direc- 
tion of  an  adult,  another  ground  for  other  games,  and  an  enclosure  con- 
taining both  gymnastic  apparatus  and  games.  Partly  by  this  sub- 
division of  the  play-grounds  and  partly  by  the  presence  of  an  overseer, 
it  has  always  been  possible  to  maintain  strict  order  in  the  garden,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  hundreds  of  children  are  often  present  at  the 
same  time.  The  games  are  under  the  guidance  of  specially  employed 
teachers  and  assistants.  There  is  also  a  large  covered  room  in  the 
playground  for  protection  in  case  of  rain.  Benches  are  placed  in  the 
mids't  of  this  children's  paradise,  where  mothers  sit  knitting  or  mending 
and  enjoying  the  mirth  of  their  little  ones.  And  when  the  day's  work 
is  done,  the  fathers,  too,  find  their  way  to  the  garden,  and  often  with 
their  wives  and  children  sit  down  to  a  simple  evening  meal  under 
the  trees.  Or  they  may  bring  their  food  with  them  from  horne  and 
refresh  themselves  with  a  glass  of  light  beer  or  a  drink  of  fresh  water, 
which  is  always  to  be  had  in  the  rooms  and  in  the  garden. 

The  grounds  and  home  are  also  used  at  times  by  other  societies  for 
children' s  picnics,  and  as  a  place  of  rest  and  refreshment  for  school  children 
of  the  surrounding  country  making  excursions  to  the  city.  In  the  sunimer 
of  1892  several  Dresden  singing  societies  for  the  first  time  gave  concerts 
in  the  garden,  which  were  attended  by  hundreds  of  members  and  others. 
By  this  means  the  noble  art  of  music  becomes  more  and  more  the  com- 
mon property  of  all  classes  of  the  people. 


238        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS   OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

Besides  the  above  described  people's  home  of  Neustadt-Dresden,  which 
is  the  most  important  one,  there  is  a  second  in  Altstadt-Dresden  and  a 
third  in  the  Bischofsweg.  In  outward  appearance  these  homes  do  not 
differ  from  respectable  restaurants.  But  the  difference  is  very  marked, 
when  one  finds  water  on  all  the  tables,  and  plain  notices  on  the  walls 
informing  the  guests  that  no  one  is  compelled  to  spend  anything  and 
that  fees  will  not  be  accepted  by  the  waiters,  and  there  is  no  card  play- 
ing with  its  accompanying  noise  and  disputes.  Many  of  the  guests 
occupy  themselves  with  books  and  newspapers  or  games  of  chess, 
draughts  and  billiards.  A  midday  meal  is  served  at  the  people's  homes 
for  25  pfennigs  (6^^  cents).  Light  beer  is  drunk  by  about  one-third  of 
the  guests.  The  visitors  to  the  people's  homes  are  mostly  ambi- 
tious young  men  anxious  for  improvement,  and  of  the  older  men 
mechanics  and  factory  operatives.  There  are  also  many  office  employees 
and  wealthier  and  better  educated  people  among  them.  A  plain  man 
visiting  one  of  these  club  houses  for  the  first  time  is  at  once  made  to 
feel  that  he  is  welcome  and  that  he  is  under  no  constraint,  as  long  as  he 
conducts  himself  properly.  Although  non-members  are,  as  a  rule, 
cheerfully  admitted  as  guests,  only  members  have  a  right  to  stay  at  the 
homes  and  to  expect  a  hearing  for  any  complaints  or  wishes  regarding 
the  management.  When  we  consider  that  wine  and  brandy  are  not  kept 
in  stock,  and  that  the  only  beverages  served  are  light  beer,  coffee,  '•'  warm 
beer",  cocoa,  tea  and  fresh  water,  we  must  realize  that  these  people's 
homes  have  little  in  common  with  bar-rooms.  Ample  provision  is  made 
in  Dresden  for  those  who  prefer  the  attractions  of  a  bar-room,  and  they 
require  no  assistance  from  public  spirited  citizens  to  satisfy  their  tastes, 
but  there  exists  a  need  for  many  more  places  where,  away  from  a  bar- 
room atmosphere,  all  classes  may  meet  for  a  higher  social  intercourse 
without  being  expected  to  constantly  spend  money  in  drink.  Two  of 
the  people's  homes  are  more  than  self-supporting,  the  surplus  being  de- 
voted to  the  payment  of  the  original  expenses.  The  third  still  requires 
some  assistance  from  the  society  to  cover  expenses. 

IV.    Other  Institutions  of  the  People' s  Club. 

Lectures  and  Class  Instruction.     Besides  promoting  sociability  among 
all  classes,  another  aim  of  the   People's  Club  has  been,  from   its  very  . 
beginning,  the  intellectual  cultivation  of  the  masses.     With  this  end  in 
view  various  courses  of  study  were  arranged  during  the  past  four  years, 
including   among  other  things,   bookkeeping,    penmanship,    German, 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  239 

English,  French  and  Italian,  modern  history,  the  chemistry  of  daily 
life,  stenography  and  singing.  There  were  also  lectures  by  physicians 
on  first  aid  to  the  injured,  medical  lectures  for  women,  lectures  on 
botany  with  botanical  excursions,  and  lectures  on  art  supplemented  by 
visits  to  the  Dresden  Art  Museum.  In  the  arrangement  of  the  course 
of  study  many  branches  were  undoubtedly  omitted,  which  would  have 
been  more  useful  than  some  of  those  selected.  Nor  can  it  be  denied 
that  there  is  still  a  lack  of  proper  system  in  this  respect,  and  that  the 
selection  of  subjects  depends  greatly  upon  chance.  In  arranging  the 
courses  the  management  acts  only  as  a  medium  between  members  who 
are  anxious  to  learn,  and  such  persons  as  are  willing  to  impart  know- 
ledge gratuitously.  Besides,  the  object  of  this  instruction  is  not  only 
to  impart  knowledge  to  the  people,  but  to  create  in  them  a-  taste  for 
nobler  pastimes  and  higher  aspirations,  and  to  give  them  a  harmonious 
view  of  the  world.  Novel  and  especially  attractive  were  the  botanical 
excursions  to  the  environs  of  Dresden,  and  the  rambles  of  the  art 
classes  in  the  city.  The  participants  in  the  former  saw  before  their 
eyes  the  spring  flowers  and  the  foliage  and  pines  of  the  German  forest, 
as  well  as  the  exquisite  plant  life  of  the  environs.  For  the  latter, 
Dresden  is  specially  adapted  by  its  wealth  of  art  treasures.  It  was 
clearly  seen  in  the  very  beginning  of  these  new  experiments  that  not 
only  professional  men,  but  the  masses  have  a  desire,  and  in  no  small 
degree  a  capacity  to  receive  mentally  and  morally  the  lessons  taught 
by  the  treasures  of  art  and  nature. 

In  connection  with  this  organization,  there  have  also  been  started 
two  singing  societies,  one  in  Neustadt- Dresden  for  a  mixed  choir,  the 
other  in  Altstadt-Dresden  for  male  voices  only.  The  former  frequently 
assists  at  the  popular  evening  entertainments.  A  dramatic  club  has 
also  been  formed,  which  devotes  one  evening  a  week  to  the  reading  of 
classic  drama.  The  library  of  the  society  is  a  potent  means  of  encourag- 
ing education.  It  is  made  up  almost  entirely  of  donations  from  the 
wealthier  members,  and  already  contains  about  1400  volumes,  which 
were  given  out  5000  times  during  the  year  1892.  Many  parents,  whose 
work  prevents  them  from  visiting  the  people's  homes,  avail  themselves 
of  their  benefits  by  sending  their  children  or  half  grown  members  of 
the  family  to  the  gardens  in  summer  time,  and  to  the  classes  or  the 
library  in  winter,  in  order  that  the  latter  may  bring  home  information  or 
entertaining  books.  Many  an  afternoon  the  library  is  filled  with  per- 
sons, especially  children,  waiting  their  turn  to  get  good  books,  or  more 


240        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

often  illustrated  periodicals  to  take  home,  either  for  themselves  or  for 
other  members  of  their  families,  so  as  to  pleasantly  pass  away  the  long 
winter  nights  in  reading  at  home. 

Finally,  as  another  means  of  education,  a  monthly  paper  is  issued 
by  the  society,  called  Volkswohl,  which  is  delivered  gratuitously  to 
all  members  at  their  homes.  This  paper  contains  a  review  of  general 
matters  relating  to  the  society,  together  with  articles  and  communica- 
tions on  public  improvements,  popular  education,  public  health  and 
social  life.  Reports  of  lectures  delivered  at  the  public  evening  enter- 
tainments, also  appear  occasionally  in  this  journal.  It  also  serves  to 
keep  the  members  more  in  touch  with  the  executive  board  and  with 
each  other. 

Women  s  Meetings.  Among  the  many  minor  divisions  of  the  pre- 
sent organization,  the  People's  Club,  the  women's  meetings  instituted 
at  the  people's  home  in  Wasserstrasse,  October  28,  1890,  have  been 
especially  successful.  This  association  meets  every  Tuesday  evening 
from  8  to  10  P.  M.  It  has  a  membership  of  130,  and  a  regular  attend- 
ance of  about  80,  consisting  of  women  and  girls  over  12  years  of  age, 
who  come  therefor  instruction,  cheering  society,  and  contact  with  com- 
panions of  their  own  age  and  sentiments.  The  time  for  social  inter- 
course is  from  7  to  8  P.  M.  Then  follows  an  instructive  lecture  or  read- 
ing, and  after  that  comes  a  lively  discussion  of  the  letter-box,  which 
contains  all  sorts  of  inquiries  by  members,  relating  chiefly  to  subjects  of 
domestic  economy.  Portfolios  containing  patterns  for  cutting  and 
crocheting,  and  ladies  journals  are  placed  on  the  tables  to  assist  in 
educating  the  members  in  all  branches  of  domestic  economy.  On  the 
evenings  set  aside  for  them,  the  women  have  the  exclusive  use  of  the 
large  hall  and  adjoining  room  on  the  second  floor  of  the  home.  Two 
special  courses  were  given  during  the  past  winter,  one  in  cutting,  and 
the  other  in  darning  and  mending.  A  course  in  measuring  and  draw- 
ing patterns  is  to  be  added.  Great  tact  and  earnestness  is  displayed 
by  the  woman  under  whose  guidance  the  meetings  are  conducted.  She  is 
a  teacher  in  one  of  the  public  schools,  and  in  her  work  at  the  meetings 
she  seems  to  have  succeeded  in  securing  a  united  hearty  eff'ort  on  the 
part  of  all  the  members,  to  strive  after  definite  aims  and  to  foster  a 
feeling  of  sociability  among  themselves  regardless  of  rank.  Often  the 
women's  meetings  are  enlivened  by  some  of  their  members  playing  on  the 
piano  or  singing.  The  aim  is  to  make  them  sociable  and  instructive, 
and  to  remove  all   restraint.     Members  often  bring  needle  work  with 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  24I 

them,  with  which  they  employ  themselves  while  pleasantly  chatting  or 
listening  to  lectures  on  domestic  affairs  and  other  matters  of  interest  to 
women,  or  they  exercise  their  wits  with  riddles  and  games.  It  is  not 
to  be  denied  that  many  women  and  girls  without  family  homes  have  as 
much  need  of  such  harmless  associations  as  men. 

Hotne  for  Girls.  This  institution,  also  conducted  by  the  People's 
Club  since  July  i,  1889,  was  originally  intended  to  accommodate  work- 
ing girls  whose  means  were  so  small  as  to  compel  them  to  live  in  bad 
lodgings.  It  was  designed  to  take  in  women  employed  in  factories,  and 
by  means  of  the  regulation  of  a  well-ordered  home  managed  for  the 
common  benefit,  to  educate  them  in  good  manners  and  domestic  duties. 
The  cost  for  lodging,  breakfast  and  dinner  was  fixed  at  70  pfennigs  (17^^ 
cents)  per  day  or  3  marks  70  pfennigs  (921/^  cents)  per  week.  The 
factory  girl,  however,  did  not  take  kindly  to  this  idea,  and  seemed  to 
prefer  the  dangerous  surroundings,  in  which  she  was  free,  to  a  home 
where  rules  must  be  observed.  So  it  came  to  be  used  chiefly  by  servant 
girls  who  boarded  there  while  temporarily  out  of  employment.  From 
July  I,  1889  to  December  31,  1892,  1550  out  of  a  total  of  2005  girls 
accommodated,  were  servants.  It  was  quite  natural  that  efforts  should 
be  made  by  the  management  of  this  home,  to  secure  employment  for 
these  girls,  and  therefore,  on  July  i,  1890,  an  employment  bureau  was 
opened  at  the  home.  A  fee  of  25  pfennigs  (61^  cents)  was  charged  for 
securing  a  situation,  and  the  employer  was  charged  50  pfennigs  (i2i/^ 
cents).  3200  girls  have  secured  situations  through  this  bureau  since  its 
creation,  the  number  in  1892  being  over  1500.  Employment  is  not  only 
secured  for  inmates  of  the  home,  but  for  all  who  wish  to  patronize  the 
bureau.  As  there  are  always  many  applications  for  servants  on  file, 
nearly  every  girl  applying  can  obtain  employment.  The  business  of 
the  employment  bureau  increased  so  much  recently  that  the  quarters 
were  enlarged  on  April  i,  1893.  The  income  from  board  and  lodg- 
ing and  from  fees  of  the  employment  bureau  is  sufficient  to  cover  all 
expenses. 

Home  for  Apprentices.  Youths  of  from  14  to  18  years  of  age  are  also 
exposed  to  many  dangers  when  forced  to  seek  support  away  from  home. 
The  dangers  arising  from  the  indiscretions  of  youth  are  at  least  partially 
guarded  against  by  the  establishment  of  homes  and  educational  institu- 
tions where  apprentices,  who  are  removed  from  the  care  and  guidance 
of  the  parents,  may  be  protected  from  the  temptations  of  a  great  city. 
The  establishment  of  such  homes  is  daily  becoming  more  urgent,  in 
16 


242        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

view  of  the  fact  that  fewer  employers  board  their  apprentices,  and  that 
the  hours  of  recreation  are  constantly  being  increased  by  legislation 
and  custom. 

Two  years  ago  the  People's  Club  obtained  a  donation  of  10,000 
marks  ($2,500)  from  a  person  interested  in  the  welfare  of  young  men, 
for  the  purpose  of  providing  an  apprentices'  home.  Several  rooms  in 
the  People's  Club  were  specially  devoted  to  Dresden  apprentices,  and 
provided  with  games,  books  and  illustrated  papers.  A  young  teacher 
was  employed  during  one  winter  to  look  after  the  entertainment  and 
instruction  of  the  boys  on  Sunday  afternoons  and  week-day  evenings. 
Sunday  walks  were  added  in  summer.  All  this,  however,  is  not  suffi- 
cient and  it  only  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  larger  apartments  and 
better  attractions  must  be  offered  to  Dresden  apprentices  and  that 
board  and  lodging  and  permanent  supervision  must  be  procured  for 
apprentices  who  are  strangers  in  Dresden — in  short,  a  real  apprentices' 
home  must  be  founded.  The  home  should  be  at  the  same  time  a  place 
where  the  master,  the  manufacturer,  the  merchant  and  the  teacher  may 
co-operate  in  the  systematic  education  of  young  men  whose  school  days 
are  over.  A  general  call  for  subscriptions  for  this  purpose  was  made  to 
the  citizens  of  Dresden  at  the  close  of  the  year  1892,  and  as  this  has 
met  with  a  hearty  response,  the  plan  will  in  all  probability  be  carried 
into  execution  during  the  current  year. 

5.  Conclusion. 
The  various  institutions  described  above  are  not  the  result  of  a  pre- 
viously conceived  plan,  but  grew  up  from  time  to  time  as  the  members 
found  them  necessary  for  the  encouragement  of  sociability  and  intellec- 
tual improvement,  and  were  developed  from  within.  Without  much  help 
from  the  executive  board,  which  rarely  finds  it  necessary  to  meet,  men 
and  women,  youths  and  girls,  from  all  classes  of  society,  earnestly 
co-operate  for  the  good  of  the  society,  so  that  after  their  day's  work 
they  may  have  opportunities  of  refreshing  their  minds  and  strengthening 
their  bodies.  And  they  learn  by  personally  managing  their  own  affairs, 
that  peace  and  harmony  are  always  more  agreeable  than  quarrels  and 
dissensions.  Notwithstanding  the  present  unfavorable  economic  condi- 
tions, the  membership  in  this  society  increased  during  the  year  1892  from 
2 161  to  2274.  All  classes  and  occupations  are  represented  in  the  member- 
ship, but  especially  small  mechanics,  laborers  and  government  employees, 
who  lead  a  temperate  life,  enjoying  the  visits  to  the  garden  with   their 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  243 

wives  and  families  in  summer,  and  in  winter  gladly  availing  themselves 
of  the  reading  room,  library  and  courses  of  study.  A  skating  rink  is 
another  attraction  where  young  and  old  can  amuse  themselves  at  small 
cost.  The  income  from  membership  fees  amounted  to  9,536  marks 
($2,384,)  in  1892.  Since  its  creation,  the  society,  unhampered  by  i)olit- 
ical,  social  and  religious  differences,  has  by  its  various  institutions  worked 
its  way  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  hearts  of  the  people.  And  while  it 
cannot  remove  all  or  even  many  social  troubles,  its  promoters  cherish 
the  hope  that  through  the  cheerful  service  and  sacrifice  of  all  classes  of 
society,  it  may  overcome  at  least  some  of  the  difficulties  of  the  social 
life  of  thq  masses. 


244       INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES   AND    CORRECTION. 


THE    ORGANIZATION    OF    CHARITY    IN    RUSSIA. 

BY  DR.    H.   GEORGIEVSKY,   ST.   PETERSBURG. 

[TRANSLATION.) 

In  Russia,  until  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  works  of  charity- 
were  regarded  as  a  means  of  saving  one's  soul.  So  the  centre  of  bene- 
ficence was  the  Church  and  into  her  hands  were  turned  the  offerings 
both  of  sovereigns  and  of  private  persons.  From  the  beginning  of  the 
1 8th  century  the  State  recognized  the  need  of  interposing  in  this  work 
and  of  regulating  charity,  by  adopting  measures  in  regard  to  various 
kinds  of  needs,  namely,  caring  for  the  sick,  helping  those  unfit  for 
work,  and  making  those  persons  work  who  were  able  to  do  so.  In 
order  to  check  the  growth  of  beggary  the  government  forbade  the  giving 
of  alms,  under  penalty  of  the  law ;  it  obliged  each  parish  as  well  as 
each  landlord,  to  help  its  own  poor  and  not  to  let  them  become  vaga- 
bonds ;  and  it  strictly  enjoined  upon  all  local  authorities  of  the  State 
to  see  that  these  laws  were  carried  out.  At  the  end  of  the  i8th  century 
committees  of  public  charity  were  founded,  having  for  their  duty  the 
organizing  of  all  necessary  establishments  (schools,  hospitals,  orphan- 
ages, workhouses,  penitentiaries,  etc.)  In  1825  these  committees 
possessed  a  capital  amounting  to  24,000,000  roubles. 

If  the  organization  for  helping  the  poor  bore  until  the  end  of  the  17th 
century  an  ecclesiastical  character,  it  bore  during  the  i8th  century  rather 
that  of  police.  At  the  beginning  of  the  19th  century  this  work  of  aid- 
ing the  poor  became  a  task,  in  which  not  only  the  organizations  of  the 
Church  and  the  State  were  joined,  but  to  which  private  individuals  and 
free  associations  readily  and  voluntarily  gave  their  aid.  It  was  in  1802 
that  the  first  organization  of  this  kind  was  formed. 

During  the  19th  century,  up  to  the  present  time,  questions  concern- 
ing the  relations  which  should  subsist  between  the  work  of  government 
organizations,  private  societies  and  individuals,  in  order  to  establish 
perfect  harmony  of  action,  have  been  studied  in  theory  as  well  as  in 
practice.  At  the  end  of  1892,  by  a  supreme  order  of  his  Majesty  the 
Emperor,  a  special  commission  was  formed  with  Grott,  a  member  of 
the  Imperial   Council,  as  president,    to  revise  all  laws  concerning  the 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  245 

relief  of  the   poor;   the  work  of  this  commission   is  already  somewhat 
advanced. 

At  the  moment  there  is  not  any  general  organization,  that  is,  there  is 
no  central  ministerial  administration  for  charity.  In  each  province  the 
responsibility  of  giving  assistance  rests  (since  1864)  with  the  General 
Council,  or  where  such  a  council  is  not  established,  with  the  Commit- 
tees of  Public  Charity.  There  is  no  general  report  given  of  work  done 
throughout  the  Empire,  and  even  in  St.  Petersburg  the  Municipal 
Council  was  not  able  to  collect  any  complete  or  precise  information 
concerning  the  work  of  the  beneficent  institutions  of  the  capital.  There 
is  still  less  information  concerning  the  cities  of  the  interior. 

Besides  the  organizations  of  the  government  and  private  societies, 
there  are  beneficent  institutions  of  a  semi-official  character — for  example, 
the  Imperial  Society  of  Philanthropy,  which  spends  a  considerable 
amount  of  money.  As  to  official  organizations  mention  must  be  made 
of  the  establishments  of  the  Empress  Marie,  the  expenditures  of  which 
in  1888  greatly  exceeded  11,000,000  roubles,  but  of  which  no  printed 
account  is  given. 

The  parochial  associations,  instituted  in  1864  in  connection  with  the 
■orthodox  churches,  merit  special  attention.  Besides  their  other  duties, 
these  organizations  must  engage  in  helping  the  indigent  of  their  parishes. 
As  they  give  help  without  religious  distinction  and  as  they  are  brought 
into  immediate  contact  with  the  people,  these  should  be  the  most  valu- 
able forces  for  regulating  the  organization  of  private  as  well  as  of  public 
charity.  Unfortunately  it  has  not  as  yet  been  possible  to  establish  even 
in  St.  Petersburg  any  bond  between  these  various  parochial  societies  ; 
so  that  the  money  at  the  disposition  of  each  one,  and  in  consequence 
the  amount  of  aid  given,  varies  according  to  the  wealth  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  each  parish. 

If  information  is  lacking  concerning  whole  departments,  whose 
special  work  is  the  aid  of  the  poor,  information  in  respect  to  the  chari- 
table work  of  individuals  or  of  private  societies  is  still  less  to  be  ex- 
pected. With  the  information  that  I  have  received  from  various  points 
in  this  vast  country,  I  can  assert  that  even  the  smallest  cities  have  their 
charitable  societies;  but  the  task  of  collecting  information  from  all 
Russia  is  recognized  as  an  impossibility  even  by  the  commission  estab- 
lished to  supervise  the  actual  work  of  helping  the  poor  and  prepared  to 
help  in  its  re-organization.  Therefore,  I  limit  myself  to  the  statistics  of 
St.  Petersburg  for    1889,  which  were  obtained  with  great  care  by  the 


246        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OK    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

municipal  administration.  These  statistics  enumerate  757  establish- 
ments, among  which  are  326  schools,  146  asylums  for  children,  90 
asylums  for  the  unfortunate,  70  ambulances,  55  hospitals,  40  lodging 
houses  (either  free  or  very  reasonable  in  price),  13  boarding  houses 
(either  free  or  moderate  in  terms),  8  workrooms,  4  night  refuges,  4 
establishments  for  sewing,  and  2  workhouses. 

The  expenditures  of  all  these  establishments  (governmental,  public 
and  private)  rose  in  1889  to  8,350,000  roubles;  the  schools  and  hos- 
pitals received  3,540,000  roubles,  and  the  4,810,000  roubles  remaining 
were  used  in  other  charitable  works.  Nearly  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  the 
sum  total  was  spent  in  the  institutions  and  only  five  per  cent.,  namely, 
430,000  roubles,  was  spent  in  outdoor  relief,  that  is  to  say,  335,000 
roubles  by  private  societies  and  95,000  by  various  agencies. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  statistics  concerning  the  number  of  persons 
helped  on  account  of  the  lack  of  unity  of  action  among  the  charitable 
societies.  A  person  helped  by  one  institution  is  perhaps  also  helped  by 
several  others;  a  person  having  received  help  during  the  course  of  the 
year  from  one  or  more  institutions  might  be  received  as  an  inmate  of  an 
institution;  so  that  the  same  person  might  be  counted  several  times  and 
we  should  evidently  have  a  very  inaccurate  result  if  we  added  together 
the  number  registered  by  each  society.  The  lack  of  connection  between 
the  societies  being  observed,  it  is  evident  that  the  number  given  in  the 
records,  846,000,  is  that  oi  cases  aided  not  oi  persons  aided.  It  is  also 
quite  impossible  to  estimate  the  considerable  amount  of  aid  given 
directly  by  private  individuals.  Unfortunately  it  is  still  quite  customary 
in  Russia  to  give  alms  in  the  street  or  at  the  church  door  to  persons 
who  pass  as  beggars,  although  in  the  few  cases  where  it  has  been  pos- 
sible to  find  out  their  true  condition  it  was  discovered  that  some  among 
them  owned  houses  or  other  capital. 

In  order  to  give  the  charities  of  St.  Petersburg  a  more  regular  organi- 
zation, I  have  elaborated  a  scheme  for  a  special  bureau  of  information 
about  the  poor  modelled  after  one  in  Dresden,  although  differing  from 
it  essentially.  The  Imperial  Philanthropic  Society  has  organized  a 
bureau  (in  part  without  me  and  in  part  with  my  non-official  concur- 
rence) where  persons  who  are  willing  to  work  without  remuneration  col- 
lect information  about  those  who  seek  aid  from  the  Philanthropic  So- 
ciety or  from  two  or  three  other  societies.  The  principal  part  of  this 
staff  of  workers  is  composed  of  women,  teachers  of  the  city  schools,  who 
have  thrown  themselves  with  ardor  into  this  useful  work.     The  inforraa- 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  247 

tion  collected  is  written  on  special  sheets  of  paper  which  are  arranged 
like  a  card  catalogue  in  alphabetical  order,  and  these  statistics  are  con- 
stantly added  to  and  verified.  Although  this  bureau  has  existed  but  a 
short  time  (three  years  at  the  most)  it  has  already  about  9,000  cards 
giving  quite  detailed  information  respecting  the  poor  living  alone  or  sup- 
porting families.  So  that  they  have  on  the  register  the  names  of  prob- 
ably twenty-five  or  thirty  thousand  individuals. 


PAPERS 


ON  THE 


WORK    AND    PROBIvElS/IS 


OF 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION 


IN 


GREAT   BRITAIN. 


250       INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS   OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


INTRODUCTORY    NOTE. 

BY  C.   S.   LOCH,   SECRETARY    OF    LONDON    CHARITY    ORGANIZATION    SOCIETY, 

I  was  asked  by  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  for  the  Sixth  Section 
of  the  Congress  of  Charities,  Correction  and  Philanthropy,  to  pro- 
cure a  full  and  careful  statement  of  charity  organization  work  and 
problems  covering  the  field  of  Great  Britain.  This  was  a  large  task. 
I  could  only  fulfil  it  within  the  time  at  my  disposal  by  asking  members 
of  charity  organization  societies  and  others  to  write  papers  on  the 
subject  with  special  reference  to  the  town  or  district  which  they  best 
knew.  No  exhaustive  statement  was  possible.  The  work  and  problems 
could  only  be  tested  by  samples;  and  these  samples,  it  appeared  to  me, 
would  be  of  special  value,  if  they  disclosed  the  opinions  and  hopes  of 
persons  engaged  in  the  daily  work  of  the  society,  who  would  be  likely 
to  outline  clearly  and  sharply  what  lay  before  them,  and  were,  in  the 
spirit  of  practical  men  and  women,  likely  to  minimise,  rather  than 
exaggerate,  what  they  might  accomplish  in  the  future. 

Of  the  general  work  and  problems  of  the  societies  the  fullest  par- 
ticulars may  be  learnt  from  the  books  and  papers  on  t'he  subject,  which 
form  part  of  the  English  Exhibits  of  the  Bureau  of  Charities  and  Cor- 
rection. (See  page  31  of  the  Introduction  of  these  Exhibits,  especially 
No.  161:  Annual  Reports  of  the  London  Society  1885  to  i8q2,  No. 
172:  the  Register  of  Charity  Organization  Societies  1891,  and  No.  366: 
Annual  Reports  of  Charity  Organization  Societies  in  the  United  King- 
dom, 1 89 1.)  I  will  not  repeat  in  epitome  what  may  there  be  found  at 
first  hand.  I  will  make  only  one  or  two  remarks  on  the  papers  to 
which  these  few  words  serve  as  a  preface. 

I  have  endeavored,  as  the  Table  of  Contents  shows,  to  obtain  first  a 
fair  representation  of  the  opinions  of  men  and  women  who  are  engaged 
in  the  work  of  charity  organization  in  the  metropolis,  and  then  a 
similar  representation  of  opinions  from  industrial  and  other  centres  in 
the  country.  Two  general  papers  head  the  London  list.  One  is  written 
by  Rev.  B.  H.  Alford,  the  Vicar  of  St.  Luke's,  Nutford  Place,  S. 
Marylebone,  who  has  for  many  years  been  a  member  of  the  S.  Maryle- 
bone  Committee  and  a  Guardian  of  the  Poor.  It  describes  the  close 
proximity  of  rich    and    poor   in   a    west    end  district,    the  lodging  of 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  25  I 

beggars  and  the  overlapping  of  benefactors,  and  the  great  changes  for 
the  better  that  have  been  made  in  the  administration  of  poor  law  relief 
and  charity  in  the  last  twenty  years.  The  other  is  written  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Bradby,  a  member  of  the  Whitechapel  Committee  and  Chairman  of  the 
Administration  Committee  of  the  London  Society.  He  knows  the  East 
of  London 'well  and  has  drawn  a  picture  of  the  industrial  and  chari- 
table characteristics  of  that  part  of  the  metropolis.  It  is  a  plain  unera- 
bellished  tale,  and  for  that  reason  may  be  appreciated  by  those  into 
whose  ears  have  been  dinned  so  many  accounts  of  the  romance  of 
distress  and  degradation  to  which  the  East  of  London  has  given  rise. 
Then  follow  four  other  London  papers.  That  from  Shored  itch  describes 
the  problem  of  Charity  Organization  and  the  Poor  Law  in  a  civil 
parish,  usually  classed  as  part  of  the  East  of  London,  but  very  distinc- 
tive in  the  character  of  its  population  and  its  industries — an  old 
.parish  with  many  endowed  charities  and  a  strong  local  feeling.  S. 
Olave's  comes  next,  another  old  parish  and  well  endowed,  south  of  the 
river.  In  the  account  of  it  but  little  is  said  of  the  actual  work  of  the 
local  committee  of  the  society,  but  the  problem  stands  out  clearly, 
and  might  be  summed  up  by  the  words  "Reform  public  administration: 
purify  social  politics."  And  in  this  direction  there  are,  we  hope,  the 
beginnings  of  a  salutary  change.  A  short  account  of  Islington  as  a 
fairly  typical  North  London  district  follows.  And  the  section  concludes 
with  a  paper  by  Mr.  T.  Mackay  on  co-operation  between  the  Poor  Law 
and  charity,  with  special  reference  to  the  improved  administration  of 
the  Poor  Law  in  S.  George  in  the  East  and  elsewhere.  In  this  paper 
the  problem  of  the  Poor  Law  reform  from  the  point  of  view  of  charity 
organization  is  discussed,  and  the  main  objects  which  it  is  the  policy  of 
the  society  to  accomplish  in  this  field,  are  definitely  stated. 

The  next  group  of  papers  deals  with  the  provinces. 

Mr.  McDougall,*who  has  a  long  and  accurate  acquaintance  with  the 
conditions  of  the  poor  in  Manchester^  is  to  describe  the  great  reform 
in  the  administration  of  poor  relief  which  has  been  accomi)lished  by 
the  Guardians  of  the  Poor  in  Manchester,  in  concert  with  himself  and 
other  charitable  persons  there.  At  Manchester  there  is  no  Charity 
Organization  Society  but  a  District  Provident  Society,  which  was  insti- 
tuted before  charity  organization  societies  came  into  existence.  Bris- 
tol takes  the  next  place,  interesting  for  two  reasons  amongst  others.  It 
has  a  quite  abnormal  supply  of  charitable  endowments,  and  many  of 
its  citizens  are  now  bent  on  introducing  judiciously  and  gradually  into 


252         INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION! 

their  administration  of  its  poor  relief  changes  which  will  make  the 
charitable  resources  of  the  town  of  more  real  service  to  its  poor.  Mr. 
Leach,  the  Clerk  to  the  Board  of  Guardians  at  Rochdale,  has  kindly 
sent  an  account  of  the  administration  there — a  typical  north  country 
industrial  town  known  all  the  world  over  as  the  pioneer  of  co-operation. 
Mr.  Milne's  account  of  Aberdeen  describes  some  phases  of  charity 
organization  which  are  to  be  found  only  in  Scotland,  where  no  Poor 
Law  relief  is  given  to  able-bodied  persons.  And  there,  too,  are  asso- 
ciations for  the  improvement  of  the  condition  of  the  poor — an  older 
form  of  charity  organization  society  now  working  in  alliance  with  the 
general  movement.  Lastly  comes  Mr.  Willink's  detailed  and  most 
interesting  account  of  Bradfield,  a  rural  union,  where  outdoor  relief 
has  almost  reached  the  vanishing  point,  and  where  some  principles  of 
charity  organization  which  were  formulated  by  the  Poor  Law  Commis- 
sioners of  1834  and  their  predecessors  are  applied,  but  there  is  no 
charity  organization  society. 

In  addition  to  these  other  towns  and  districts  might  have  been 
chosen.  But  the  reports  of  provincial  charity  organization  societies, 
to  which  already  reference  has  been  made,  and  the  papers  furnished 
from  Birmingham,  Oxford,  Leeds  and  elsewhere  for  the  charity  organi- 
zation conferences  held  in  Oxford  in  1890,  will  give  the  reader  informa- 
tion, should  he  desire  it.  (See  No.  162  of  the  Exhibits  Charity  Organi- 
zation Review.) 

On  special  departments  of  the  society's  work,  the  care  of  the  feeble- 
minded, the  epileptic,  etc.,  I  do  not  add  any  remarks.  Reports  and 
papers  in  regard  to  them  will  also  be  found  in  the  Exhibit. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION. 


253 


THE  WEST  OF  LONDON:  S.  MARYLEBONE. 

BY     REV.     B.      H.     ALFORD,     POOR    LAW     GUARDIAN     AND     MEMBER     OF     THE 
S.    MARYLEBONE    COMMITTEE    OF    THE    C.     O.     S. 

I  am  asked  to  contribute  a  paper  for  the  International  Congress  of 
Charities  which  shall  deal  with  that  small  portion  of  the  field  of  enquiry 
which  has  fallen  under  my  own  personal  observation;  that  field  is  the 
parish  of  Marylebone,  lying  in  the  West  of  London  and  containing  a 
very  mixed  population  of  over  142,000.  Throughout  this  parish  the 
extremes  of  want  and  of  wealth  lie  near  one  another.  In  Lisson  Grove 
between  50  and  60  per  cent,  of  the  inhabitants  are  returned  in  Mr. 
Charles  Booth's  statistical  tables  as  living  in  poverty,  while  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Baker  Street  100  per  cent,  of  the  inhabitants  live  in 
comfort.  Occasionally  the  juxtaposition  of  the  extremes  is  very  close; 
for  it  takes  only  three  minutes  to  walk  from  Bryanston  Square,  colored 
"gold"  in  Mr.  Booth's  reference  maps,  to  Horace  Street,  colored 
"black."  The  direct  consequence  of  this  interstratification  of  opposed 
classes  is  to  intensify  distress,  emotionally  first  of  all,  because  bitter- 
ness is  naturally  engendered  through  a  contrast  so  glaring;  and  also 
practically,  for  the  services  required  by  the  rich  are  to  a  great  exttnt 
casual,  lasting  for  the  season,  and  no  longer;  while  the  rent  of  rooms 
rises  considerably  higher  than  where  land  is  less  valuable.  The  conse- 
quence is  that  in  no  part  of  London  are  the  operations  of  the  Charity 
Organization  Society  more  necessary  or,  if  I  may  say  so  without  local 
partiality,  better  carried  out. 

I.  It  is  desirable  to  curb  the  impetuosity  of  the  well-to-do.  Moved  by 
the  distress  and  squalor  of  their  neighborhood  they  are  anxious  to 
apply  the  speedy  remedy  of  giving.  Those  that  appear  with  a  whin- 
ing tale  at  the  back  door  get  broken  meat  or  a  dole ;  those  who  occupy 
themselves  in  letter  writing  find  a  fair  harvest.  There  has  lately 
established  herself  a  few  doors  off  from  me  an  impecunious  beggar, 
whose  trade  it  is  steadily  to  go  through  the  list  of  inhabitants  in  the  adja- 
cent squares,  and  send  an  appeal  varying  in  particulars  with  those 
addressed  to  every  householder.  But  perhaps  the  most  fatal  form  of  cor- 
ruption is  when  a  soft  hearted  lady  undertakes  on  her  own  impulse  to 


254        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

visit  and  relieve  the  poor  at  their  own  homes.  I  have  known  an  instance 
of  a  request  for  a  trifle  to  buy  rice  acceded  to  by  a  gift  of  a  sovereign. 
In  such  personal  intercourse  with  neighbors  there  is  indeed  "the 
promise  and  potency"  of  valuable  help,  but  only  on  the  condition 
that  the  hand  does  not  go  ordinarily  to  the  pocket.  Until  antecedents 
be  known;  temptations  recognized,  and  the  whole  field  of  circum- 
stances reviewed,  there  should  be  no  money-giving  attempted,  if  even 
then.  The  Society  is  ready  to  step  foward  and  advise  such  as  have  no 
patience  or  capacity  for  the  process  of  sifting  facts,  of  considering 
alternatives,  of  deciding  upon  that  which  will  best  aid  effort  and  least 
hinder  energy. 

2.  //  is  desirable  to  methodize  the  ivorks  of  charity,  which  are  already 
afoot  in  Marylebone.  It  follows  without  saying  that  a  parish  of  the 
kind  I  have  described  teems  with  charities.  I  have  a  list  by  me  of  39 
churches,  27  chapels,  and  about  15  missions  within  our  boundaries. 
Each  of  these  will  certainly  have  a  machinery  of  its  own  for  the  assist- 
ance of  the  poor.  The  societies  of  the  different  churches  may  be 
expected  to  keep  within  their  respective  districts.  Some  of  the  chapels 
also,  being  for  special  forms  of  worship,  will  have  only  a  limited 
clientele,  but  the  remainder  will  spread  their  work  indiscriminately, 
and  some  of  the  least  deserving  characters  in  Marylebone  may  easily 
be  getting  help  with  both  hands  from  more  sources  than  one.  When  I 
add  a  number  of  institutions  not  directly  religious,  such  as  dispensaries 
wi4h  their  supplies  of  medicine  and  sick  food,  hospitals  with  their  in- 
door, outdoor  and  convalescent  treatment,  almshouses,  orphanages, 
homes — you  will  perceive  the  imperative  need  of  interchange  of  know- 
ledge and  partition  of  labor.  This  the  society  has  undertaken  to  promote; 
but  its  efforts  are  hampered  by  lack  of  co-operation.  Some  smaller  com- 
munities do  not  think  it  worth  while  to  give  information  as  to  work  done. 
Some  larger  communities  seem  jealous  of  interference,  and  would 
rather  act  rashly  than  act  openly.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  time 
and  good  humor  may  smooth  away  difficulties.  Those  who  take  coun- 
sel in  common  about  their  cases  find  individual  judgment  strengthened 
and  corrected  by  the  general  judgment,  and  (I  speak  for  myself)  leave 
the  committee  room  thankful  for  the  sympathy  of  other  minds,  the  side- 
lights of  other  experience. 

3.  //  is  desirable  to  repress  the  endeavors  of  the  unscrtipulotis  to  prey 
upon  the  umvary.  Our  streets  in  winter  time  are  a  constant  haunt 
:>{   tramps ;    they  sing   sometimes   popular   ditties,    sometimes  popular 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  255 

hymns,  and  always  badly;  but  their  voices  seem  to  affect  the  emotional, 
and  I  occasionally  listen  to  a  rain  of  half-pence  pattering  in  the  street 
from  the  front  windows.  The  Society  offers  an  alternative  to  this  practice 
so  discouraging  both  ' '  to  him  that  gives  and  him  that  takes. ' '  It  accepts 
the  task,  difficult  and  generally  thankless,  of  investigating  the  alleged 
want,  of  supplying  honorable  forms  of  help,  of  endeavoring  to  obtain 
work  for  those  who  plead  that  they  have  no  employment.  The  result 
frequently  is  to  discover  that  the  last  thing  desired  is  employment,  and 
that  the  life  of  the  pavement  is  the  present  equivalent  of  the  life  of 
Sherwood  forest  among  a  certain  set  of  "merry  men,"  whom  it  is 
scarcely  wise  to  encourage  in  their  outlawry  from  order  and  work. 
Those,  again,  whose  profession  is  more  sedentary  and  whose  pen  is 
their  organ  of  appeal,  are  taken  to  task  by  the  Society;  if  they  cannot 
be  won  from  their  mistaken  industry,  and  especially  if  this  industry 
borders  ^as  it  frequently  does)  upon  fraud,  their  names  are  printed  on 
a  •' cautionary  card,"  which  invites  anyone  around  to  communicate 
with  the  office  before  rendering  help. 

4.  It  is  desirable  to  co-operate  witli  the  Guardians  of  the  Parish,  so 
that  charity  and  State  relief,  may  each  find  its  proper  object — neither 
interfering  with  the  other.  If  the  Society  were  able  wholly  to  realize 
its  intention,  and  brought  into  a  focus  all  the  voluntary  forces  of  the 
neighborhood,  it  would  then  be  able  to  address  the  State  with  entire 
confidence,  and  arrange  a  full  concordat.  As  it  is,  it  is  entitled  to 
speak  with  a  certain  force  of  authority  as  an  accredited  mouth-piece  of 
several  agencies,  and  the  only  one  so  accredited.  At  present  there  is  a 
change  passing  over  the  administration  of  the  Poor  Law  in  London. 
The  process  began  in  the  East;  it  is  gradually  spreading  to  the  West. 
Instead  of  money  being  promiscuously  bestowed  on  a  pauper  family  in 
the  home,  there  are  distinctions  made.  In  the  case  of  sickness,  admis- 
sion is  offered  to  the  infirmary ;  in  the  ca.se  of  a  destitute  widow,  main- 
tenance for  some  of  her  children  in  the  parish  schools  ;  in  the  case  of 
ordinary  want,  admission  to  the  workhouse.  But  this  sifting  discloses 
necessitous  cases  which  are  either  partial,  or  exceptional,  or  temporary. 
Under  the  first  category  come  those  who  still  retain  a  certain  power 
to  earn,  but  whose  earnings  are  by  reason  of  age  or  ailment  inade- 
quate to  their  support;  or  those  who  have  relatives  able  to  supply  some, 
but  not  able  to  supply  all  their  maintenance.  Here  the  Guardians — and 
I  write  as  chairman  of  the  Relief  Committee  of  the  Marylebone  Board — 
do  not   desire  to  throw  aside  the  amount  coming   in  to  the  apj)licant, 


256         INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

and  yet  do  not  wish  to  initiate  fresh  out-relief.  Again  a  not  unfrequent 
occurrence  is  the  case  of  a  respectable  man  or  woman  or  couple  en- 
tirely devoid  of  means;  they  have  worked  themselves  out,  or  they  have 
failed  without  fault,  or  some  sickness  has  overtaken  them,  with  which 
their  club  is  unable  to  cope.  Here,  were  the  workhouse  to  be  pressed, 
we  should  insist  on  a  remedy  incommensurable  with  the  disease,  we 
should  needlessly  wrong 

"  that  feeling  of  decent  pride,"  (I  quote  from  the  last  Report  of  the 
Marylebone  Charity  Organization  Committee)  "which  is  worth  preserv- 
ing, if  only  as  a  shadow  and  ghost  of  the  true  independence  of  char- 
acter which  the  working  classes  have  now  such  multiplied  temptations 
to  lose  utterly  out  of  sight." 

In  this  dilemma  the  Society  aids  the  Guardians;  it  accepts  the  special 
case  for  special  investigation;  it  traces  out  its  past  history;  it  examines 
its  present  surroundings;  it  weighs  the  evidence  for  thrift  and  upright- 
ness and,  if  the  case  endure  the  ordeal  successfully,  the  Society  organizes 
a  pension,  working  in  such  earnings  as  are  possible,  and  such  help  from 
relatives  as  is  forthcoming.  And  of  all  pieces  of  work  this  is  to  my 
judgment  the  most  satisfactory.  Character  finds  its  reward  in  exemp- 
tion from  the  stigma  which  must  fall — and  righteously  fall — upon 
State  aid;  while  the  public  sees  that  the  recent  rule  of  refusing  outdoor 
aid,  though  strictly  applied  by  the  trustees  of  the  State,  has  yet  its  way  of 
escape  through  careful  voluntary  aid,  and  they  are  not  thereby  encour- 
aged to  rush  into  almsgiving  of  their  own  through  false  compassion. 
The  Marylebone  Committee  of  the  C.  O.  S.  was  one  of  the  first,  if  not 
the  very  first  among  the  committees,  to  arrange  a  special  Pension  Fund: 
it  thus  expends  upwards  of  ^^700  yearly  in  allowances  to  old  men  and 
women,  while  the  parish  authorities  are  able  to  reduce  their  out-relief 
correspondingly  to  a  minimum,*  feeling  that  no  hardship  is  likely  to 
result  while  this  concerted  action  lasts. 

I  note  two  illustrations  from  the  Committee's  Report  of  last  year's 
work  in  this  direction. 

"14,146,  A.  R.,  a  thrifty,  industrious  woman,  formerly  a  domestic 
servant.  She  had  saved  ^^150,  which  she  lost  through  a  bad  invest- 
ment, but  she  struggled  bravely  on,  supporting  herself  until  she  was  sev- 
enty-six, notwithstanding  bad  health  and  extreme  deafness.  It  would 
have  been  a  terrible  hardship  for  this  woman  to  go  into  the  workhouse, 

*There  are  now  only  323  recipients  in  a  population  of  142,381,  whereas  in  Dec. 
1886,  there  were   1043. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  257 

and  ultimately  a  pension  was  successfully  organized."  "13,916.  A. 
B.,  a  respectable  housemaid  most  highly  spoken  of  by  her  mistress  as  a 
good  serv^ant  and  a  devoted  daughter.  She  left  her  place  to  nurse  her 
old  father,  who  was  very  ill,  but  refused  to  go  into  the  infirmary.  She 
was  able  to  earn  so  little  while  attending  on  him,  that  they  were  half 
starved  and  were  rapidly  sinking  into  pauperism.  Some  help  was 
given  and  influence  brought  to  bear  upon  the  father  to  induce  him  to 
enter  the  workhouse.  This  he  finally  did,  and  a  loan  w^s  then  made  to 
the  daughter  to  enable  her  to  re-enter  service  respectably.  She  repaid 
the  money  as  soon  as  possible,  expressing  much  gratitude  for  all  that 
had  been  done  for  her,  and  she  is  now  doing  well." 

It  is  evident  to  those  who  watch  the  social  signs  that  some  radical 
alteration  in  the  rules  of  the  Poor  Law  is  approaching:  such  alteration 
will  doubtless  take  the  form  of  exempting  certain  classes  of  the  desti- 
tute from  its  stricter  requirements,  and  providing  them  with  exceptional 
aid  in  old  age.  The  Local  Government  Board  would  be  well  advised 
to  make  use  of  the  machinery  existent  in  the  Charity  Organization  So- 
ciety— if  only  it  could  be  duly  extended  to  the  provinces — in  order  to 
bring  every  source  of  relief  to  a  focus  for  the  provision  of  pensions.  If 
relatives  are  overlooked,  if  the  kindness  of  old  employers  and  present 
friends  is  not  invoked,  if  the  Christian  pity  of  church  or  chapel  is  ex- 
cluded from  its  share  in  the  national  object,  and  only  compulsory  rates 
and  taxes  are  drawn  upon — then  we  shall  have  a  purely  mechanical 
scheme,  unrelieved  by  any  human  element.  It  would  be  within  the 
desire  and  the  power  of  the  C.  O.  S.  to  supply  this  leaven  of  humanity 
and  redeem  officialism  from  waste  and  disrepute.  Every  year  by  calm 
persistent  work  the  Society  is  more  and  more  mastering  details,  extend- 
ing knowledge,  fixing  principles.  Its  collection  of  facts  as  to  the  needy 
of  the  metropolis  written  in  thousands  of  volumes  of  papers  and  hun- 
dreds of  volumes  of  indices,  is  an  invaluable  gift  to  enquirers;  its  dis- 
cussions of  method  have  dealt  with  fallacies  which  fettered  thought  and 
encumbered  action  twenty  years  ago,  but  now  are  discountenanced 
things  of  the  past.  The  ground  is  open  for  a  forward  movement,  and 
while  to  prophesy  its  details  would  be  presumptuous,  to  affirm  its  near 
-occurrence  is  permitted  to  the  sanguine. 


17 


258        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


THE  EAST  OF  LONDON. 

BY  REV.    DR.    E.    H.    RRADBY,   MEMBER  OF    THE    WHITECHAPEL    COMMITTEE 

OF    THE    C.   O.     S. 

SYNOPSIS. 

I.  Brief  desci'iptive  sketch  of  the  w/iole  area  covered.  Characteristics 
of  the  several  districts  in  tvhich  the  Society  has  Committees.  These  are 
conterminous  with  the  Poor  Law  Unions.  Whitechapel.  St.  George' s 
in  the  East.  Stepney.  Mile  End  Old  Toiun.  Poplar  and  S.  Bromley. 
Bow  and  N.  Bromley.      Unoccupied  territory  beyond. 

IT.  Enumeration  of  the  chief  difficulties  in  the  ivay  of  Charity  Organi- 
zation in  East  London,  i.  The  absence  of  a  leisured  class  and  the 
consequences  of  that  absence  throughout  the  vast  area  that  has  to  be  dealt 
with.  Enumeration  of  really  available  resources.  2.  The  multitude  of 
competing  agencies  which  have  to  be  organized  and  refuse  organization, 
3.  7 he  shifting  character  of  the  population.  4.  '■'The  unemployed.^' 
Distinction  between  those  luho  do  and  those  wJio  do  not  really  belong  to  this 
class.  5 .  The  large  foreign  element  in  certain  districts.  Concluding 
observations  on  the  work  and  position  of  the  Society. 

I.  The  stranger  who  for  the  first  time  ^■isits  the  East  End, — the 
workshop  of  London  as  it  has  been  styled — -will  probably  be  agreeably 
disappointed.  He  will  encounter  few  outward  signs  of  the  want  and 
squalor  with  which  he  has  probably  been  taught  to  associate  the  name. 
Broad  airy  thoroughfares,  traversed  by  tramcars,  omnibuses,  and  every 
description  of  vehicle  except  the  gentleman's  carriage,  stretch  far  away 
into  the  suburban  regions  of  "London  over  the  border."  The  princi- 
pal streets  are  alive  all  day  with  a  motley  crowd  of  more  or  less  shabby 
passengers.  The  houses  which  flank  the  thoroughfares  are  chiefly 
shops,  commonplace  buildings  enough,  when  looked  at  individually, 
but  at  least  having  the  merit  of  being  low,  so  that  the  air  can  circulate 
freely,  and  presenting  a  vast  variety  of  outline. 

A  glance  down  the  side  streets  will  show  that  the  characteristic  of 
most  of  them  is  a  dull  respectability.  House  succeeds  house,  and  street 
succeeds  street,  built  after  the   same    pattern,   and   only  distinguished 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  259 

from  one  another  by  their  numbers  or  their  names.  And  if  one  pene- 
trates behind  these  streets  to  the  courts  and  alleys  which,  not  unfrequently, 
lie  between  and  behind  them,  though  the  spaces  will  be  narrower  the 
general  features  of  the  scene  will  not  be  changed.  Only  here  and  there 
will  a  really  dark"  spot  be  found,  and  their  number  is  being  yearly 
reduced.  It  is  only  when  he  penetrates  inside  the  fairly  prosperous 
looking  houses  that  the  stranger  will  discover  that  very  many  of  them 
are  not  the  homes  of  a  single  family,  but  of  several  families,  and  that 
where  this  is  not  the  case  lodgers  are  common.  Thus  the  population 
is  often  much  more  closely  packed  than  would  appear  to  the  outside 
observer.  What  will  strike  a  visitor  more  than  the  signs  of  anything  like 
squalor  is  the  general  plainness  and  monotony,  not  to  say  ugliness  of 
the  region:  the  absence  of  striking  and  important  buildings,  the  lack  of 
all  those  suggestions  of  stateliness  and  antiquity  and  refinement,  which 
we  are  apt  to  associate  with  the  idea  of  city  life.  To  complete  the  gen- 
eral picture,  it  should  be  stated  that  the  East  is  bounded  by  somewhat 
similar  districts  on  the  North;  that  to  the  eastward  it  melts  indefinitely 
or  by  slow  degrees  into  the  country,  embracing  whole  districts  to  which 
the  society  has  not  yet  extended  its  operations,  though  it  is  now  con- 
templating an  advance;  whilst  on  the  southern  side  the  Thames,  with 
its  long  stretch  of  wharves  and  docks,  and  all  the  concomitants  of  a  vast 
mercantile  port  visited  by  ships  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  affords 
a  welcome  variety  to  the  general  sameness  of  this  portion  of  the  far- 
spreading  metropolis  of  London. 

But  in  order  to  understand  its  character,  and  the  kind  of  problems 
which  it  presents  to  the  organizers  of  charity,  it  is  necessary  to  break  up 
the  wide  area  just  described  into  smaller  portions.  Each  of  these  will  be 
found  to  possess  its  own  distinctive  marks.  Our  task  will  be  rendered 
easy  by  following  the  grouping  of  the  C.  O.  committees,  which  are,  as 
a  rule,  conterminous  with  the  Poor  Law  Unions.  The  first  of  these  as 
one  passes  eastward  from  the  city  proper  is  Whitechapel,  (Population 
71,363.)*  On  the  broad  pavement  of  its  High  Street  people  of  all 
nations  jostle  against  one  another,  but  they  are  the  poor,  the  shabby 
and  the  toiling  of  all  nations,  not  the  rich  and  well-to-do.  Half  of  the 
inhabitants  are  foreigners,  mostly  Jews.  These  congregate  chiefly  in 
this  Union,  and  there  are  whole  streets  and  districts  in  which  they  have 
gradually  supplanted  the  native,  and  whole  Board   Schools,  in  additiAn 

*The  numbers  given  here  and  below  are  those  of  the  census  of   1881. 


26o        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

to  the  excellent  Jewish  Free  School,  where  their  children  occupy  all  the 
benches.  Their  ways  are  foreign,  and  they  mix  but  little  with  the 
English.  As  a  rule,  they  are  a  peaceable  and  industrious  ]>opulation, 
and  in  such  virtues  as  thrift  and  sobriety  they  excel  their  neighbors; 
but  they  crowd  unwholesomely  together,  and  their  standard  of  comfort 
being  low,  they  tend  to  lower  the  wages  of  the  trades  in  which  they 
compete.  From  their  practical  isolation  it  is  very  difficult  for  any  of 
our  native  agencies  to  come  into  real  contact  with  them.  Happily 
the  Jewish  poor  are  looked  after  with  increasing  judiciousness  by  the 
Jewish  Board  of  Guardians,  a  splendid  voluntary  charity;  while  the 
Friends  of  Foreigners  in  Distress  vindicates  its  name  by  an  assistance 
which  would  be  more  effective  if  it  were  less  frequently  dissipated  in 
doles.  Of  these  two  societies,  the  former  is  in  active  co-operation  with 
our  committees,  while  the  latter  frequently  refers  cases  to  them  for 
investigation  and  advice.  Another  feature  of  Whitechapel  is  to  be 
found  in  the  large  number  of  shelters  and  common  lodging  houses 
which  are  crowded  into  this  district.  The  shelters  especially  form  a 
serious  and  increasing  evil,  by  attracting  into  this  centre  the  tramps 
and  ne'er-do-wells  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  More  particularly 
during  the  winter  months,  when  relief  of  some  kind  is  to  be  had  for 
the  asking,  is  this  attraction  potent  and  mischievous.  The  result  is 
that  while  a  wise  policy  of  dispersion  is  being  actively  followed,  on  the 
one  hand,  by  sanitary  and  moral  reformers,  their  work  is  being  as 
actively  counteracted,  on  the  other,  by  the  efforts  of  a  misguided 
philanthropy.  When  we  add  that  Whitechapel  has  the  misfortune  to 
contain  two  or  three  streets  which  are  notorious  for  the  bad  character 
of  their  inhabitants,  it  will  be  seen  that  there  are  many  obstacles  to 
contend  with  in  this  district.  Besides  this  foreign  and  this  floating 
population,  there  remains  that  of  the  regular  residents.  Many  of  them 
are  Irish  by  birth  or  descent.  They  get  their  living  by  labor  of  all 
kinds,  much  of  it  casual,  or  by  working  at  small  trades.  It  is  among 
these  that  the  Charity  Organization  Committee  finds  its  chief  field  of 
work.  The  two  most  satisfactory  branches  of  that  work  are  aid  in 
sickness  and  convalescence,  and  pensions  for  the  aged  and  deserving 
poor.  In  both  branches  co-operation  and  organization  are  needed  and 
are  obtained.  Beyond  this,  in  spite  of  much  active  co-operation  on  the 
part  of  many  of  the  clergy,  who  in  no  place  are  more  friendly  than 
here,  the  committee   is  more  successful  in  preaching  the  true  principles 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  26 1 

of  charity  than  in   securing  their   practical   acceptance   by  the  host  of 
independent  agencies  that  are  at  work  around  them. 

We  pass  on  to  St.  George's  in  the  East  ; 46, 747).  As  this  is  more 
fully  described  elsewhere,  it  may  here  be  briefly  dismissed.  It  has  a 
less  mixed  multitude  than  Whitechapel,  and  it  is  plagued  with  fewer 
shelters.  It  is  the  home  of  the  docker,  the  riverside  laborer,  and  the 
very  poor.  As  their  work  fluctuates  with  the  seasons  and  with  trade, 
so  fluctuates  the  prosperity  of  the  district.  There  are  times  of  much 
want  and  depression,  especially  in  a  hard  winter.  The  bulk  of  the 
upper  part  of  the  population  is  made  up  of  artisans  and  small  store- 
keepers. The  district,  poor  as  it  is,  seems  to  be  gradually  becoming 
poorer,  from  the  removal  of  some  large  undertakings.  Meanwhile  the 
foreign  element  in  the  population  is  increasing. 

Beyond  St.  George's  on  the  East  lies  Stepney  (58,500).  Stepney 
was  once  a  favorite  suburban  residence — Mr.  Pepys  sent  his  goods  there 
for  safe  custody  to  a  friend's  country  house  during  the  great  fire  of 
London  in  1666 — but  the  strong  tide  of  population  setting  eastward 
has  long  covered  and  flowed  far  beyond  it.  With  its  arrival  the  more 
wealthy  residents  have  disappeared.  Those  who  make  their  fortunes  in 
the  district  live  apart  from  it.  Clerks  and  small  business  men,  whose 
work  lies  chiefly  in  the  city,  occupy  the  better  neighborhoods.  There 
is  also  a  large  number  of  artisans  scattered  throughout  the  district, 
but  the  bulk  of  the  population  find  their  living  on  the  waterside  in  one 
way  or  another,  and  suffer  with  the  ups  and  downs  of  trade.  There 
are  few  large  manufactories  to  furnish  centres  of  life  and  industry. 
The  foreign  element  is  absent.  Stepney  has  not  the  busy  varied  life  of 
Whitechapel,  nor  the  poverty  of  St.  George's.  It  is  poor  but  respecta- 
ble, orderly  but  dull. 

Mile  End  Old  Town  (105,573),  which  lies  north  of  both  the  two 
districts  last  described,  covers  an  area  almost  equal  to  them  both. 
There  are  in  this  district  two  or  three  big  manufactories;  there  are  also 
a  brewery,  a  distillery  and  large  confectionery  works;  whilst  one  of  the 
great  London  Gas  Companies  has  it  headquarters  here.  These,  of 
course,  give  employment,  much  of  it  regular  employment,  to  many. 
Hence  there  are  large  spaces  in  this  wide-spreading  district  from  which 
few,  if  any,  applications  come  to  the  office  of  the  society.  By  the  side 
of  these  more  fortunate  persons  lives  a  multitude  of  dockers,  carmen, 
hawkers,  and  unskilled  laborers.  Add  to  this  that  the  Jews  have  flowed 
over  from  Whitechapel,  and  occupy  one  quarter  to  the  extreme  west  of 


262        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

the  district.  There  is  no  rich  resident  class  to  take  the  lead  in  charit- 
able work,  or  in  organizing  public  life.  Here,  as  elsewhere  in  the  East 
End,  those  who  thrive  by  the  district  live  away  from  the  district,  and 
the  region  is  given  over  to  trade  and  labor. 

Very  different  from  the  Unions  already  described  is  that  of  Poplar 
(156,525)  to  which  we  now  pass.  The  area  of  this  huge  Union  is 
divided  by  the  Society  between  two  committees,  one  for  the  north,  the 
other  for  the  south.  The  district  cared  for  by  the  southern  committee, 
called  that  of  Poplar  and  S.  Bromley,  lies  still  further  east  down  by  the 
river  side,  and  contains  within  it  the  Isle  of  Dogs.  The  Thames  here 
makes  a  large  semi-circular  sweep  or  loop,  washing  the  island  on  three 
sides,  whilst  its  fourth  side  is  formed  by  the  great  East  and  West  India 
Docks.  North  of  this  lies  the  more  thickly  peopled  quarter  of  S. 
Bromley  where  the  bulk  of  the  workers  live.  Poplar  is  the  seat  of  a 
great  iron  industry.  The  banks  of  the  Thames  are  studded  with  iron 
works,  girder  works,  wire  rope  Avorks,  iron  bridge  works  and  lead  works. 
The  shipbuilding  trade,  which  was  once  flourishing  here,  has  fallen  into 
almost  complete  decay.  There  is  more  independence,  more  hope,  stir 
and  resource  among  the  men  of  Poplar  than  are  to  be  found  nearer  the 
city.  It  is  the  headquarters  of  trades  unionism  and  clubs;  whilst  the 
large  seafaring  population  contributes  its  energy  and  its  knowledge  of 
the  world.  Of  course,  times  of  depression  come,  but  they  are  encountered 
with  more  vigor  and  pluck.  Owing  to  the  nature  of  the  industries 
followed,  there  is  a  considerkble  connection  with  the^North  of  England, 
and,  as  a  body,  the  workmen  of  the  North  are  ahead  of  those  of  the 
South  in  intelligence  and  organization.  To  give  an  idea  of  the  distance 
of  Poplar  from  the  centre  of  things,  it  takes  about  an  hour  to  get  from 
the  Committee's  office  to  Charing  Cross,  the  headquarters  of  the  Society, 
by  tramcar  and  railway. 

Immediately  north  of  this  region  lies  the  twin  district  of  Bow  and 
North  Bromley,  which  is  the  last  that  we  have  to  describe.  There  are 
some  works  here  for  the  making  of  jam,  chemicals,  paper,  and  colors, 
and  there  is  also  a  large  brewery,  but  Bow  is  not  a  manufacturing  cen- 
tre in  the  sense  in  which  Poplar  is.  The  factories  lie  mostly  in  the 
north  corner  of  the  district,  round  about  Old  Ford.  They  employ 
with  fair  regularity  a  large  number  of  people;  in  one  quarter  reside  a 
good  many  clerks,  whose  business  lies  elsewhere.  The  rest  of  the 
inhabitants  are  artisans,  such  as  carpenters,  painters  and  plumbers,  and 
below  them  are  laborers  of  various  kinds.      There    is  just   a   sprinkling 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  263 

of  dockers.  Few  Jews  are  to  be  found  in  Bow :  The  foreign  element, 
which  is  not  conspicuous,  is  formed  chiefly  of  Germans,  many  of  them 
old  residents.  There  are  plenty  of  poor,  some  very  poor,  in  the  dis- 
trict, and  in  one  locality  is  gathered  a  criminal  or  semi-criminal  popu- 
lation— one  of  those  black  spots  scattered  over  Mr.  Charles  Booth's 
famous  Map  of  East  London — which  the  operations  of  the  Society  do  not 
touch.  In  Bow  there  are  no  wealthy  residents,  but  a  certain  amount  of 
local  help  in  money  and  service  is  forthcoming.  Much  as  it  is  to  be 
welcomed,  it  is  but  a  trifle  when  compared  with  the  wants  of  the  dis 
trict  and  the  opportunities  for  service  which  it  offers. 

Though  we  have  reached  the  end  of  our  committees,  we  have  not 
reached  the  end  of  East  London.  There  are  large  densely  peopled 
regions  beyond,  notably  at  Canning  Town,  and  around  the  works  of 
the  Great  Eastern  Railway  at  Stratford.  Into  some  of  these  the  society 
is  already  meditating  an  advance,  but  its  progress  is  slow  and  its 
resources  few,  and  the  day  is  yet  distant  when  it  will  be  in  the  happy 
position  of  being  able  to  sigh  for  still  more  worlds  to  conquer. 

II.  What  are  the  chief  difficulties  which  confront  the  Charity  Organ- 
ization Society  in  the  vast  thickly  peopled  area  which  has  now  been 
briefly  described?  To  name  these  is  to  state  the  problems  which  it  has 
to  consider,  and,  if  possible,  to  solve.  First  and  foremost  must  be 
placed  the  general  absence  of  a  leisured  and  cultivated  class — men  who 
have  time  and  intelligence  to  devote  to  local  matters.  Consider  the  wide 
areas,  the  swarming  numbers  that  have  to  be  dealt  with,  and  what 
are  half  a  dozen  centres  for  such  a  work?  And  yet  even  these  poor 
half  dozen  are  manned  chiefly  by  workers  who  come  from  distant 
fjarts  of  London,  and  have  a  long  journey  by  train  and  cars  to  encoun- 
ter, coming  and  going.  The  richer  tradesmen  used  to  live  over  their 
shops;  now  they  leave  them  after  business  hours  for  a  suburban  home, 
which  is  the  real  centre  of  their  affections  and  interests.  They  cannot, 
at  any  rate  they  do  not  help  us.  Of  the  clergy  we  shall  speak  pre- 
sently. There  remains  the  great  class  of  well-to-do  artisans.  They 
are  always  on  the  spot.  Their  aid  would  be  invaluable,  for  they  form 
the  upper  class  of  the  really  resident  population,  but  hitherto  we  have 
failed  to  enlist  their  support.  And  there  are  great  obstacles  in  the 
way.  Not  the  least  of  these  is  the  fact  that  their  leisure  time  is  in  the 
evening,  while  much  of  the  work  of  our  committees  must  be  done  in 
the  daytime.  But  there  is  more  than  this.  Partly  they  do  not  under- 
.stand,    partly   they  do  not  sympathize  with  our   methods.      With  our 


264        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

aims  they  would  in  theory  agree,  but  they  do  not  see  the  close  connec- 
tion that  exists  between  our  aims  and  our  methods,  for,  much  as  they 
study  social  questions,  they  do  not  study  them  from  the  side  of  charity. 
Hence  there  is  much  ill-founded  prejudice  against  us,  and  those  who 
would  agree  with  us  in  private  will  not  speak  up  for  us  in  public. 
Intercourse  alone  can  break  down  prejudice,  and  intercourse  is  hard 
to  achieve.  One  of  the  chief  problems  set  us  is  how  to  make  the 
Society  more  popular  without  sacrificing  principle.  One  important 
source  of  aid  has  yet  to  be  mentioned.  The  parochial  clergy  are  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  region,  and  their  organization  for  charitable 
purposes  is  the  most  complete  and  the  most  universal.  Could  we  cap- 
ture them,  we  should  have  made  a  great  stride  forward,  for  they  are 
the  only  cultivated  residents  whom  you  are  sure  to  find  on  the  spot  in 
every  district.  The  only  way  to  capture  them  is  to  convince  them, 
and  this  is  a  long  and  difficult  process.  Perhaps  our  best  hope  in  the 
near  future  lies  in  the  acceleration  of  that  process.  At  present  the 
amount  of  their  co-operation  varies  much  in  different  centres.  In 
Whitechapel  it  is  hearty  and  pretty  general;  in  most  districts  a  few 
work  with  us  genuinely,  more  are  half  convinced,  and  many  stand  aloof; 
the  actively  hostile  are  becoming  fewer,  and  it  is  very  possible  that  the 
next  few  years  may  see  a  great  change  for  the  better. 

2.  Next  comes  the  multitude  of  competing  agencies  that  have  to  be 
organized.  A  few  great  societies,  notably  the  Society  for  Relief  of 
Distress  and  the  Metropolitan  District  Visiting  Association,  work  in 
hearty  co-operation  with  us,  but  the  smaller  and  more  or  less  local 
societies  form  the  crux.  Their  name  is  legion.  As  a  rule,  they  fight 
each  for  his  own  hand,  and  they  despise  or  mistrust,  at  any  rate  they 
neglect,  scientific  charity.  They  are  all  heart  and  no  head.  The  con 
sequence  of  no  concert  is  much  overlapping;  the  consequence  of  much 
overlapping  is  the  degradation  of  the  poor.  The  poor  are  being  dili- 
gently  trained  by  them  to  dependence  and  a  hand  to  mouth  existence, 
instead  of  to  manliness  and  self-reliance.  This  is  the  great  national 
curse  of  charity  as  now  administered  by  too  many.  Not  those  who 
need  most  get  the  most  help,  but  those  who  know  best  how  to  exploit 
existing  institutions.  The  wily  applicant  has  many  strings  to  his  bow. 
No  doubt  this  thoughtless  but  well  meaning  charity  often  mitigates 
much  present  distress,  but  it  does  it  at  the  cost  of  character,  and  it 
helps  to  perpetuate  it.  Were  all  the  money  and  personal  service  thus 
lavished  given  on  wise  principles  and   in  concert  with  others,  it  would 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  265 

go   much   further,  and  would    do   more  good   and   much  less  mischief. 
Problem,  to  convince  the  charitable  public  of  this. 

3.  The  shifting  character  of  the  population.  The  East  Londoner  is 
not  much  given  to  taking  root  in  one  spot.  Why  should  he  be?  One 
street  is  very  like  another,  one  house  is  very  like  another.  There  are 
few  of  those  charms  of  locality  and  association  which  make  a  man 
cling  to  his  home  at  any  cost.  Hence  he  shifts  his  quarters  very 
readily  to  suit  his  work,  or  his  convenience.  Now  the  essence  of 
charity  organization  is  friendliness  and  personal  contact,  and  the  unit 
on  which  it  works  is  the  family.  But  how  can  you  get  to  know  families 
who  are  here  to-day  and  may  be  off  to-morrow?  How  can  you  get  a 
hold  on  them,  and  be  helpful  in  the  long  laborious  process  of  aiding 
to  build  up  self-help,  self-respect,  frugality?  Of  course,  there  remain 
many  fixed  residents;  but  so  far  as  the  population  fluctuates  hither  and 
thither,  so  far  the  work  of  charity  must  be  imperfect.  The  only  soluble 
problem  here  is  how  to  make  the  best  of  a  bad  bargain. 

4.  The  difficulty  of  the  unemployed,  of  which  so  much  has  been 
heard  of  late.  Now  here  there  is  need  of  much  discrimination.  Who 
are  the  unemployed  ?  It  is  a  term  somewhat  vague,  as  generally  used. 
No  trade  gives  unbroken  employment  to  all  who  follow  it;  most  trades 
have  their  busy  and  their  slack  time;  some  can  only  be  pursued  at  all 
at  certain  seasons.  It  would  be  unreasonable  to  constitute  the  hands 
which  from  these  various  causes,  from  time  to  time,  are  short  of  work 
into  a  class,  and  call  them  "the  unemployed."  And  yet  this  is  fre- 
quently done.  The  lack  of  employment  of  these  persons  is  not  chronic, 
but  temporary,  and  for  the  most  part  can  be  foreseen  and  provided 
against.  In  the  long  run  it  is  taken  into  account  in  the  wages  paid 
them.  The  genuine  "unemployed"  consist  of  two  classes.  It  some- 
times happens  that  a  trade  leaves  a  district  altogether,  or  almost 
entirely.  This  happened  a  few  years  ago  with  the  sugar-bakers  in 
Whitechapel  and  St.  George's;  it  is  happening  now  with  the  ship- 
builders in  Poplar.  In  that  case  a  large  body  of  steady  workmen  may 
be  thrown  out  of  work  altogether,  and  may  have  great  difficulty  in 
migrating  or  getting  absorbed  in  other  trades.  This  is  the  first  class, 
and  theirs  is  a  case  very  hard  for  charity  to  deal  with  effectually;  for 
charity  cannot  invent  work,  which  is  what  they  want.  But  besides 
these  there  are  in  East  London  a  vast  number  of  men  who  know  no 
trade,  and  are  too  poor,  too  ignorant,  and  too  shiftless  to  learn  one. 
They  live  solely  by  manual  labor.     They  seldom  have  regular  employ- 


266         INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

inent.  When  trade  is  in  the  flood-tide  of  prosperity,  they  pick  up  a 
living;  when  it  ebbs,  their  fortune  ebbs  with  it.  Then  the  half  em- 
ployed become  the  unemployed,  and  suffer  much  privation.  Especially 
is  this  the  case  with  the  "casual"  dockers  and  other  riverside  laborers, 
who  are  not  enrolled  on  any  organized  staff.  In  dealing  with  these 
two  classes,  charity  organization  may  possibly  meet  the  special  crisis  of 
the  one  by  a  special  effort,  but  the  condition  of  the  other  is  chronic, 
and  all  temporary  expedients  are  at  best  but  palliatives,  and  can  never 
effect  a  cure.  Many  of  the  plans  at  present  advocated,  tend  only  to 
perpetuate  and  aggravate  the  disease.  Time,  patience,  the  spread  of 
education,  the  spread  of  organization,  the  elevation  of  the  standard  of 
comfort,  and,  above  all,  a  recognition  of  the  truth  that  underlies  the 
much  abused  and  much  misunderstood  law  of  Malthus,  appear  to  the 
present  writer  to  be  the  chief  remedies. 

5.  It  will  have  been  observed  that  a  large  foreign  population  is 
quartered  in  Whitechapel  and  the  parts  contiguous  to  it.  They  are 
principally  Jews.  Their  numbers  have  been  a  good  deal  increased  during 
the  past  few  years,  but  not  to  the  extent  which  alarmists  have  reported, 
by  refugees  from  .Russia.  These  people  live  by  trade  and  traffic  of  one 
kind  or  another,  not  by  manual  labor.  They  present  a  special  diffi- 
culty to  charity  organization:  they  live  in  the  midst  of  the  native 
population  without  mixing  with  it,  they  speak  and  understand  our 
language  imperfectly.  The  result  of  these  facts  is  that  it  is  very  hard  to 
get  to  know  much  about  their  real  condition  and  their  real  wants. 
Our  best  hope  of  success  seems  to  lie  in  a  closer  co-operation  with  the 
two  great  societies  already  mentioned,  which  make  them  their  special 
care  and  have  better  means  of  knowing  and  dealing  with  them. 

It  is  time  to  draw  this  brief  sketch  to  a  close.  It  will  be  evident  to 
those  who  have  followed  it  that  the  Charity  Organization  Society  has 
much  as  yet  to  do,  and  few  men  to  do  it  with,  in  the  vast  field  of  East 
London.  It  cannot  be  said,  at  present,  to  have  effectively  occupied 
that  field,  but  in  every  Union  it  has,  at  any  rate,  one  active  centre,  from 
which  its  influence  may  radiate.  Nor  is  that  influence  to  be  fairly 
judged  by  the  number  of  cases  in  which  co-operation  has  been  estab- 
lished, or  distress  relieved,  through  its  direct  intervention.  Its  widest 
influence  is  that  which  is  exercised  on  the  minds  and  opinions  of  men, 
and  there  are  not  wanting  signs  that  that  influence  is  beginning  to  tell. 
A  juster  estimate  is  abroad  of  the  problems  and  the  responsibilities  of 
charity.     Bad   ways  of  relief  are   more  readily  discredited  than   they 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  267 

were.  The  absolute  need  of  inquiry  before  relief  is  becoming  more 
widely  recognized.  Overlapping  is  admitted  to  be  mischievous.  The 
methods  of  the  society  are  some'times  partially  adopted  even  by  those 
who  profess  no  sympathy  with  it.  The  society  is  essentially  a  mis- 
sionary and  propagandist  society,  and  in  proportion  as  the  prin- 
ciples which  it  preaches  come  to  be  accepted  and  acted  on  by  others, 
whether  they  join  its  ranks  or  stand  aloof,  it  may  claim  to  be  achieving 
success. 


268        1NTERNATI0NAT>    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


SHOREDITCH. 

BY    MR.     C.    N.    NICHOLSON,     POOR    LAW    GUARDIAN    AND    CHAIRMAN    OF 
THE    SHOREDITCH    COMMITTEE,    C.    O.    S. 

The  Union  of  which  I  am  asked  to  write  is  that  of  Shoreditch, 
situated  about  twenty  minutes  walk  north  of  the  Bank  of  England.  Its 
population  is  rather  over  120,000  and  almost  the  whole  of  them  belong 
to  the  working  classes,  the  remainder  being  small  shopkeepers  and  a 
few  factory  owners,  who  of  course  reside  outside  the  district.  The 
principal  trade  carried  on  is  the  cabinet-maker's.  In  Curtain  Road, 
Great  Eastern  Street  and  that  part  of  Old  Street  that  runs  through  the 
Union  more  than  half  the  shops  are  furniture  shops,  wholesale  and 
retail,  the  goods  being  made  in  the  houses  in  the  streets  adjoining  where 
the  workmen  live.  A  considerable  part  if  not  half  of  this  furniture  is 
thus  made  in  the  workmen's  own  home  and  not  in  the  factory.  The 
work  is  also  very  much  split  up,  a  chair,  for  instance,  having  to  go 
through  a  large  number  of  hands  before  it  is  turned  out.  There  is  also 
a  considerable  number  of  timber  merchants  in  the  district  and  many 
people  are  employed  at  the  sawmills  which  supply  the  small  workmen 
who  make  for  the  furniture  dealers.  The  boot  trade  also  employs  a 
certain  number,  but  very  small  in  comparison  with  the  furniture  trade. 
There  is  also  a  zinc  works  and  a  white  lead  factory,  and  the  inevitable 
box-making  business  which  exists  over  a  great  part  of  London.  The 
district  is  very  fairly  open  and  airy,  the  streets  as  a  rule  being  wide  and 
the  number  of  courts  and  alleys  small.  The  houses  also  are  all  low 
and  the  streets  are  consequently  lighter  than  in  many  parts  of  London. 

At  the  time  at  which  I  am  writing,  the  cabinet  trade  and  the  boot 
trade  are  very  much  depressed,  the  warehouses  being  full  of  goods  for 
which  there  are  no  purchasers,  and  consequently  employment  is  slack  to 
such  an  extent  that  the  small  workmen  can  frequently  be  seen  in  the 
streets  trying  to  sell  the  goods  which  ought  properly  to  go  to  the  ware- 
houses. 

One  would  naturally  think  that  this  would  increase  the  number  of 
people  who  have  to  be  supported  by  poor  law  relief,  but  somehow  the 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  269 

numbers  in   the  house   are  very  little  above  the  average  while   the  out- 
relief  has  been  coming  down  steadily  through  the  year. 

It  will  be  perhaps  right  to  explain  at  this  point  the  rules  for  the 
giving  of  State  relief  in  accordance  with  which  the  guardians  of  the 
poor  of  each  Union  are  bound  to  act.  In  the  first  place  no  person  is 
entitled  to  receive  relief  unless  he  can  plead  destitution.  Now  this 
particular  term  has  never  been  defined  and  is  probably  incapable  of 
definition.  In  practice  its  meaning  is  fairly  well  shown  by  a  remark 
which  I  have  heard  a  relieving  officer  make  to  his  board  of  guardians, 
when  asked  by  the  chairman  why  he  had  given  relief  to  a  particular 
individual.  He  said,  '<The  man  told  me  he  was  destitute  and  I  saw 
no  signs  of  food  in  the  house."  It  was  evident  therefore  that  the  term 
is  an  elastic  one  and  that  probably  a  certain  number  of  people  get 
assistance  who  are  not  at  all  witjhin  measurable  distance  of  starvation. 

Dividing  up  these  cases  who  are  taken  as  destitute  they  are  sorted  into 
two  classes,  the  able-bodied  and  the  not  able-bodied. 

As  to  the  able-bodied,  out-relief  is  not  allowed  to  be  given  unless 
there  is  sickness  in  the  family;  in  all  other  cases  the  house  must  be  offered. 
This  exception  of  cases  of  sickness  leads  however  to  many  difficulties. 
For  instance,  suppose  a  family  consisting  of  a  man  and  woman  and 
three  children  to  apply  to  the  relieving  office  for  assistance,  the  woman 
being  ill  and  the  man  out  of  work.  In  such  a  case  the  medical  officer 
will  of  course  attend;  but  medicine  is  not  much  good  without  food,  and 
therefore  out-relief  will  be  given — with  the  result  that  the  pressure  on 
the  man  to  get  back  to  his  work  is  slackened  and  malingering,  from 
which  the  friendly  societies  suffer  so  much,  is  encouraged.  Of  course 
if  the  woman  had  not  been  ill  the  house  would  have  been  offered  in 
the  first  instance  for  the  whole  family. 

As  to  the  not  able-bodied,  who  form  the  greater  number  of  the  appli- 
cants for  relief  in  the  Union  of  which  I  am  writing,  the  position  is  very 
different.     They  can  be  given  out-relief  or  can  be  offered  the  house. 

Now  if  a  board  of  guardians  could  be  trusted  to  discriminate  care- 
fully between  those  people  who  would  be  likely  to  make  a  proper  use  of 
the  money  or  food  given  in  out-relief  and  those  who  would  probably 
make  a  bad  use  of  it,  and  offer  only  the  house  to  the  latter,  no  difficulty 
would  ari.se.  But  this  is  precisely  the  point  at  which  the  arrangements 
break  down. 

In  the  Shoreditch  Union  the  number  of  cases  brought  up  before  the 
ordinary  weekly  board   varies,  according  to  the  time  of  year,  between 


270        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

250  and  350.  These  cases  are  disposed  of  at  an  average  of  rather  over 
three  to  the  minute.  It  is  therefore  evident  that  the  guardians  them- 
selves cannot  possibly  be  aware  of  the  position  or  circumstances  of  the 
cases  brought  before  them,  and  except  in  very  glaring  instances,  or  when 
a  particular  applicant  is  well  known  through  his  frequent  appearance, 
they  must  rest  entirely  on  the  judgment  of  the  relieving  officer. 

The  position  of  this  officer  is  by  no  means  satisfactory,  he  is  paid 
about  ^^130  to  p/^i6o  a  year,  and  before  he  actually  comes  into  contact 
with  the  poor  he  passes  through  no  course  of  training  in  his  duties  but 
picks  up  his  experience  as  he  goes  along.  He  has  a  heavy  amount  of 
responsibility  thrust  upon  him.  He  naturally  wishes  to  keep  his  list 
as  small  as  possible,  for  the  board  then  considers  that  he  is  doing  his 
work  well;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  if  anything  goes  wrong  with  one  of 
his  cases,  the  whole  blame  is  cast  upon  him;  and  how  serious  the  conse- 
quences to  him  may  be  can  be  imagined  from  the  fact  that  I  have 
known  the  guardians  express  the  wish  to  discharge  an  officer  on  the  spot 
for  an  imagined  breach  of  discipline,  which  further  investigation  showed 
had  never  occurred. 

The  length  of  a  relieving  officer's  list  depends  a  good  deal  on  his 
power  of  sifting  his  cases  quickly  and  accurately,  but  on  the  whole  he 
is  more  likely  to  assist  a  doubtful  case  than  to  refuse. 

As  mentioned  above  the  relieving  officer  when  bringing  his  cases  before 
the  board  can  only  recommend  certain  things.  He  can  offer  to  take 
the  applicant  into  the  house  or  the  infirmary,  or  if  he  wishes  to  treat  the 
case  outside,  he. can  recommend  the  board  to  give  the  applicant  so 
much  a  week  either  in  money  or  in  kind;  or,  if  the  applicant  is  in 
want  of  medical  treatment,  he  can  send  the  parish  doctor  to  his  house, 
or  he  can,  in  case  of  certain  infectious  diseases  send  him  off  to  one  of 
the  rate-supported  hospitals. 

Now  these  powers  enable  him  to  deal  with  the  immediate  necessities 
of  the  moment,  but  in  no  way  to  prevent  their  recurrence.  He  may 
provide  a  family  with  sufficient  food  to  drive  away  the  spectre  of  starva- 
tion for  twenty -four  hours,  but  he  can  do  no  more. 

The  necessity  of  the  existence  of  voluntary  charitable  institutions 
working  side  by  side  with  the  state  institution  for  relief  is  therefore 
tolerably  evident,  as  a  good  example  of  the  powerlessness  of  state 
relief  to  put  a  man  on  his  legs.  I  may  give  the  following  instance 
which  occurred  under  my  own  observation.  A.  B.  a  painter  by  trade 
had  a  wife  and  three  children.      His  wife  died  about  two  winters  ago. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  27  r 

and  he  was  so  seriously  ill  with  bronchitis  and  rheumatism  that  having 
spent  all  he  had  put  by,  he  was  obliged  to  come  into  the  poor  law 
infirmary,  and  his  children,  having  no  home,  were  taken  into  the  work- 
house. When  he  recovered  he  was  transferred  to  the  workhouse  from 
the  infirmary,  and  there  he  is  still.  The  Board  very  properly  refused 
to  let  him  go  out,  unless  he  took  his  three  children  with  him,  *  and, 
as  he  had  not  got  a  penny  and  Avould  not  be  paid  until  he  had  been 
out  at  work  for  a  week,  he  had  no  choice  but  to  stay  where  he  was. 

The  case  was  brought  to  the  notice  of  private  charity  a  few  days  ago, 
and  arrangements  are  being  made  for  the  man  to  go  out  to  work,  while 
he  and  his  children  Avill  be  supported  for  a  week  or  ten  days,  until  the 
man  gets  his  first  earnings. 

This  family  has  been  living  at  the  expense  of  the  ratepayers  of  the 
Union  for  a  year  or  fifteen  months,  and  must  have  cost  at  least  ^60. 
The  actual  cost  to  the  charity  concerned  will  be  about  ^2.10.0. 

In  a  case  of  this  nature  owing  to  the  necessarily  narrow  powers  of  State 
relief,  the  man  might  have  remained  in  the  house,  a  charge  upon  the 
ratepayers  for  the  remainder  of  his  life,  or  until  his  children  had  grown 
up  and  started  work  on  their  own  account. 

Another  example  of  this  and  one  which  is  frequently  occurring  is  that 
of  widows.  A  young  woman  marries  and  frequently  gives  up  the  work 
which  she  has  been  doing  to  attend  to  her  new  home.  If  she  does  not 
do  this  at  once,  the  necessity  is  more  or  less  forced  upon  her  if  she  has 
children. 

If  then  her  husband  dies  without  making  sufficient  provision  for  her 
and  the  children  are  young,  there  is  nothing  for  her  to  do  except  to 
take  State  relief,  and  this  relief  can  do  nothing  more  than  keep  her  and 
the  children  alive.  On  the  other  hand,  voluntary  charity  can  assist  her 
to  get  back  to  her  old  work,  or,  if  that  is  impossible,  have  her  trained 
to  some  occupation  which  will  render  her  self-supporting. 

Now  if  a  widow  is  once  put  upon  the  out-relief  list,  it  is  exceedingly 
difficult  to  have  her  name  removed.  She  will  get  to  depend  upon  it, 
and  will  not  be  likely  to  look  out  for  work,  or,  if  she  does  take  work, 
she  is,  by  the  receipt  of  the  relief,  able  to  sell  her  labor  at  a  price  below 
that  which  would  be  paid  to  a  woman  not  in  receipt  of  relief.  I  have 
known  of  two  women  who  applied  for  out-relief,  stating  at  the  time 
that,  if  it  was  granted,  they  would  be  able  to  take  tailoring  work  at  the 

*This  rule  is  very  necessary,  as  if  a  man  is  allowed  to  go  out  on  the  plea  of 
looking  for  work,  he  not  infrequently  deserts  his  family. 


^72        INIERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

Starvation  wages  at  which  it  was  offered.  The  disastrous  results  from 
following  such  a  policy  in  lowering  the  rate  of  wages  is  sufficiently 
obvious. 

I  have  known  a  case  of  a  widow  to  be  on  the  out-relief  list  for  four 
years;  and  the  relieving  officer  stated  that  at  the  end  of  that  time  she 
was  no  better  off. 

Again,  the  State  is  only  able  to  provide  such  maintenance  for  blind 
and  crippled  people  as  will  provide  them  with  food,  clothing  and  lodg- 
ing; voluntary  charity  being  unfettered,  can  go  much  further,  and  by 
careful  training,  can  teach  these  unfortunate  people  certain  trades  which 
will  not  only  enable  them  to  earn  at  any  rate  something  towards  their 
own  maintenance,  but  which  will  preserve  them  from  the  misery  of 
enforced  idleness  in  a  workhouse. 

Further  examples  of  this  nature  can  of  course  be  easily  given,  but 
enough  has  been  said  to  show  that,  while  it  is  the  duty  of  the  State  to 
see  that  none  of  its  members  starve,  there  is  a  still  higher  duty  which 
is  imposed  on  the  individual  and  one  which  the  State  cannot  fulfil, 
namely,  as  far  as  possible,  to  prevent  any  member  of  the  State  being 
degraded  to  this  position  of  dependence. 

Now  I  am  quite  aware  that  it  will  be  suggested  that  the  proper  course 
to  remedy  these  defects  should  be  a  reform  of  our  present  poor  law,  and 
that  the  boards  of  guardians  should  be  instructed  to  exercise  a  greater 
amount  of  discrimination  in  treating  the  applicants  for  relief;  and  if 
this  could  be  done,  it  would  probably  be  the  most  satisfactory  solution 
of  the  difficulty.  But  unfortunately  the  boards  of  guardians,  at  any 
rate  in  the  poorer  parts  of  London,  are  not  composed  of  people  who 
are  likely  to  exercise  this  discrimination,  even  if  they  were  able  to  do  so. 
The  Shoreditch  board  consists  of  eighteen  members.  Of  these,  last 
year,  two  were  clergymen  whose  time  was  quite  enough  occupied  with 
looking  after  their  parishes.  One  was  a  large  timber  merchant,  who 
was  also  a  member  of  the  London  County  Council,  and  rarely  found 
time  to  attend  the  meetings.  Four  were  retired  men  of  business,  and 
about  the  best  members.  The  remaining  ten  were  small  shopkeepers, 
each  engaged  in  business  from  which  they  drew  incomes  varying  from 
^200  to  ^400  per  annum.  These  men,  too,  though  they  attend  with 
fair  regularity,  have  quite  enough  to  do  to  look  after  their  own  affairs. 
In  these  circumstances  there  is  always  a  tendency  to  get  through  the 
business  as  fast  as  possible;  and  that  ])art  of  the  work  which  gets  the 
greatest  amount  of  attention  is  the  contracting  for  supplies  or  building. 


CHARIIY    ORGANIZATION.  273 

the  appointment  of  officers,  and  the  correspondence  with  the  Local 
Government  Board,  the  central  authority  which  superintends  all  the 
unions  through  the  country.  But  the  visitation  of  the  workhouse  and 
the  infirmary  is  not  to  my  mind  satisfactorily  done,  and,  considering 
that  these  two  institutions  shelter  a  daily  average  of  over  looo  people, 
I  do  not  think  that  it  is  right  that  this  should  be  left,  as  much  as  it  is, 
in  the  hands  of  subordinate  officers. 

The  out-relief  list,  as  I  have  stated  above,  is  got  through  at  the  rate 
of  three  cases  a  minute.  It  should  be  added  that  the  cases  of  old  people 
who  have  been  in  receipt  of  relief  for  some  years,  are  passed  every  two 
months  simply  on  the  word  of  the  relieving  officer.  No  questions  are 
even  asked  about  them.  Can  it  then  be  wondered  at  that  there  are 
cases  receiving  assistance  who  do  not  deserve  it,  and  also  cases  that  are 
not  being  assisted  in  a  proper  way. 

If  then  the  powers  of  the  Guardians  were  enlarged,  the  probability  is 
that  they  would  not  be  used  advantageously,  but  that  greater  waste  and 
greater  pauperization  would  follow. 

The  ideal  Board  of  Guardians  while  paying  proper  attention  to  the 
ordinary  business  of  maintaining  the  institutions  under  its  care,  would 
use  its  best  endeavors  so  to  give  relief  that  it  would  not  pauperize,  but 
give  the  deserving  applicant  the  power  to  rise  again  to  a  position  of 
independence,  and  at  the  same  time  force  the  undeserving  to  maintam 
himself.  Unfortunately  we  are  a  long  way  off  from  this.  The  rate- 
payers of  the  poorer  districts  are  far  too  apathetic;  and  consequently 
voluntary  charity  is  the  only  agent  that  can  rescue  the  deserving 
applicant  from  the  mire  of  pauperism. 

I  pass  now  to  charity  and  charity  organization.  The  different 
methods  in  which  is  administered  the  charity  of  the  churches  whose 
parishes  make  up  this  union,  show  probably  more  clearly  than  any- 
thing else  the  enormous  differences  of  opinion  which  exist  on  this 
important  subject.  The  high  churchman  will  not  work  closely  with  the 
low  churchman,  and  both,  though  unwilling  to  admit  the  fact,  would, 
as  a  rule,  decline  to  recognize  the  dissenter  or  the  Roman  Catholic 
minist'er.  The  latter  say,  "we  look  after  our  own  congregations;"  the 
Church  of  England  vicar  says,  "I  have  the  care  of  all  the  poor  in  my 
parish."  Hence,  as  these  parishes  cover  the  whole  ground,  overlapping 
abounds,  and  a  poor  person  is  sorely  tempted  to  attend  the  church  ser- 
vices of  two  or  more  denominations  so  as  to  qualify  for  the  charity  that 
is  too  readily  given  for  purposes  of  propagandism.  Women  frequently 
.  18 


2  74         INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

attend  the  mothers'  meetings  of  two  churches  so  as  to  be  able  to  draw- 
on  both  sources  of  supply  in  case  of  need.  Here  is  indeed  an  extra- 
ordinary state  of  affairs.  All  these  bodies  -have  at  any  rate  one  com- 
mon bond,  respect  for  Christ's  teaching,  all  profess  to  recognize  the 
charitable  duties  which  He  laid  down,  and  yet  they  cannot  agree  to 
meet  to  discuss  the  best  methods  of  dealing  with  the  funds  entrusted  to 
them  and  are  apparently  careless  how  their  administration  may  affect 
adjoining  parishes.  The  injury  that  can  and  does  occur  through  this 
want  of  co-operation  and  absence  of  definite  rules  in  the  giving  of  relief 
is  considerable  as  the  following  instance  will  show. 

There  exists  in  London  a  society  formed  for  the  purpose  of  sending 
for  a  few  weeks  to  the  country  certain  sick  and  ailing  children  in  the 
hope  that  fresh  air  and  good  exercise  may  improve  their  physical  con- 
dition. One  of  the  rules  of  this  society  is  that  the  parents  of  any  child 
sent  away  must  contribute  one-third  of  the  cost,  this  representing 
the  approximate  cost  of  the  child  in  its  own  home.  Another  society 
more  or  less  opposed  to  this,  but  professedly  working  on  the  same  lines, 
sends  away  the  children  in  a  particular  parish  in  this  union,  but  does 
not  call  upon  the  parents  to  contribute  anything.  The  effect  of  this 
upon  the  adjoining  parishes  where  the  second  society  does  not  work  is 
that  the  parents  decline  to  contribute  the  one-third  demanded  by  the 
first  society,  and  the  children  who  would  be  benefitted  are  in  danger  of 
being  left  alone.  Now  quite  apart  from  the  question  whether  the  rule 
is  right  or  wrong,  is  it  not  absurd  on  the  face  of  it  that  these  parishes 
cannot  meet  and  agree  upon  some  modus  vivendi\^\i\c\\  will  enable  them 
to  work  in  harmony? 

The  first  thing  that  is  necessary,  if  we  are  ever  to  get  to  a  solution  of 
the  question,  what  to  do  with  the  poor  of  our  great  cities,  is  to  sink  all 
these  differences  of  opinion.  Each  vicar,  Roman  Catholic  priest  and 
dissenting  minister  should  consent  to  carry  out  loyally  such  a  system 
of  relief  as  is  agreed  to  by  all.  And  it  should  be  recognized  that  the 
grant  or  refusal  of  charitable  relief  ought  not  to  depend  upon  the 
question  whether  the  applicant  has  or  has  not  attended  so  many  ser- 
vices— is  or  is  not  a  member  of  a  particular  congregation,  but' upon 
the  question  whether  he  can  be  assisted  in  such  a  manner  as  will  be  of 
permanent  benefit  to  himself  and  to  the  community. 

Will  this  idea  ever  be  realized?  It  must  be  confessed  that  at  ])resent 
the  signs  are  not  hopeful.  So  long  as  the  clergy  are  content  to  leave 
the  relief  of  the  poor  of  their  parish  in  the  hands  of  sisterhoods  or  like 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  2)5 

institutions,  careless  whether  the  assistance  given  is  suitable  to  the  par- 
ticular case,  or  whether  it  is  likely  to  be  of  any  benefit  at  all ;  so  long 
as  by  their  express  or  tacit  sanction  they  allow  children,  who  ought  to 
be  maintained  by  the  parents  who  brought  them  into  the  world,  to  be 
fed  and  clothed  by  charitable  societies  so  long  as  they  are  willing  to 
prevent  an  individual  from  experiencing  the  punishment  of  his  own  folly 
and  wickedness — so  long  shall  we  have  distress  and  pauperization. 

The  above  remarks  apply  though  in  a  slighter  degree,  for  the  respon- 
sibility is  less,  to  each  individual.  He,  too,  is  bound  to  take  care  that 
what  he  gives  in  charity  is  given  wisely,  for  he  may  feel  sure  that  to 
deprive  a  man  of  the  wholesome  feeling  that  he  is  under  a  necessity  to 
maintain  himself,  is  the  most  certain  way  of  making  him  a  permanent 
pauper.  But,  subject  to  this,  the  sphere  of  the  charity  of  an  individual 
is  bounded  only  by  his  own  powers.  He  can  place  his  sympathy  and 
experience  at  the  disposal  of  all  those  who  are  in  trouble,  and  a  kind 
thought  or  a  gentle  word  is  often  worth  more  than  so  much  weight  of 
gold  and  silver. 

The  troubles  of  the  deserving  poor  arise  more  from  ignorance  than 
anything  else.  How  is  the  workingman  to  know  which  is  the  best 
market  for  his  labor  ?  The  rich  man  when  he  invests  his  capital  has 
various  schemes  placed  before  him,  and  chooses  among  them  those 
which  are  most  likely  to  bring  him  a  safe  return.  No  such  opportunity 
is  open  to  his  poorer  brother.  How  is  the  poor  woman  nursing  her  sick 
child  at  home  to  know  what  is  the  right  treatment  to  adopt  ?  How  is 
a  workingman  to  know  which  is  the  safest  friendly  society  for  him  to 
join?  Here  is  a  field  where  individual  beneficence  can  exercise  itself 
to  the  full,  and  with  the  certainty  that  the  work  is  useful  and  that  it  is 
helping  others  to  help  themselves.  How  simple  it  all  seems  and  yet 
how  difficult  it  is  to  do. 

But  this  is  by  no  means  all  that  the  individual  can  do.  There  is  a 
common  idea,  which  seems  to  exist  among  almost  all  classes  of  society, 
that  they  have  only  to  pay  their  poor  rate,  and  to  subscribe  to  voluntary 
charities,  and  that  these  institutions  will  then  work  themselves.  I 
believe  that  if  the  funds  contributed  for  charitable  institutions  were 
doubled  and  the  existing  management  continued,  so  far  from  reliev- 
ing distress  and  bringing  us  all  to  a  happy  Arcadia,  the  result  would  be 
infinitely  worse.  A  fairly  good  instance  of  this  is,  the  use  that  is  made 
of  what  are  called  endowed  charities  in  certain  parts  of  London.  The 
management  of  these  is  allowed   to  remain    in   the  hands  of  the  local 


276        INTERNATIONA!.    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

tradespeople  and  of  the  vicar  of  the  parish,  and  \ery  often  they  are 
given  in  very  small  sums  to  a  large  number  of  people,  totally  regardless 
of  what  the  recipients  may  really  need,  or  of  what  would  be  the  best 
way  of  helping  them  out  of  their  trouble.  It  never  seems  to  occur  to 
the  managers,  that  it  is  infinitely  better  to  raise  one  person  to  a  position 
of  independence  than  to  keep  ninety  and  nine  in  a  state  of  idleness, 
in  expectation  of  a  shilling  or  two  to  tide  them  over  the  next  week. 
Here  then  is  another  piece  of  work  for  the  individual  who  will  seriously 
interest  himself  in  the  welfare  of  the  poor.  Let  him  serve  as  a  charity 
trustee,  with  the  resolve  that  he  will  not  attempt  to  do  anything  for  a 
case,  unless  he  can  see  his  way  to  benefit  it  permanently,  and  that  at 
all  hazards  he  will  refuse  to  let  the  money  be  squandered  where  no 
lasting  good  can  be  produced. 

A  striking  instance  of  the  neglect  of  these  principles  came  under  my 
notice  a  week  or  two  ago.     What  is  known  as  a  "  midwifery  letter  "  was 
given  to  a  certain  woman,  and  by  her  passed  on  to  the  wife  of  the  vicar  of 
the  parish  whose  duty  it  was  to  "cash"  it.     The  vicar's  wife  called  and 
found  a  large  family  living  in  one  room  without  a  particle  of  furniture. 
The  woman  had  recently  been  confined,  and  her  rags  and  her  husband's 
coat  were  her  only  covering.     Both  husband  and  wife  were  known  to  be 
habitual  drunkards.      To  give  them  money  was  absolutely  useless,  for  it 
would  have   gone  at  once  to  the  public  house  ;  to  give  them  clothing 
was  just  as  bad,  for  it  would  only  have   been   pawned   for  drink.      1  he 
nurse  employed  by  the  vicar  attended  the  case  and  kept   the  room  as 
clean  as  she  could,  and  had  the  other  children  looked  after.     But  have 
these  people  been  taught  in  any  way  that  they  must  suffer  for  their  own 
neglect,  and  that  if  they  choose  to  spend  their  earnings  in  drink,  they 
must  accept  the  degradation  and  restraint  imposed  by  poor  law  relief? 
Surely  not.      But  in   reply  it  will   be   said,  what   is   the  remedy?     The 
answer  is,  that  if  people  wish  to  see  their  money  do  good  and  not  harm, 
they   must   study   the    problems   of  poverty,  and   if  they  cannot   aff"ord 
the  time  for  visiting   the  poor  themselves,  at  any  rate  they  can  take  the 
trouble  to  see  that   those    in  whose   hands  they  place   their  money  do 
make  a  proper  use  of  it.      For  those  who  can  give  the  time,  the  organi- 
zation of  charity  is  a  most  important  duty.      Here  in  London  the  income 
of  our  charities  amounts  to  about  ^4,000,000  a  year,  exclusive  of  what 
is   collected   at   the   ordinary  church  offertories   or  given   away   in   the 
streets.     From  the  latter  source  I  have  known  a  beggar  to  state,  that  he 
could  make  30  shillings  a  week.      Our  charitable  income  then  is  enough 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  277 

and   more   than   enough.      Our  business   is  to  see  that   it  is  not  wasted, 
but  properly  applied. 

To  prevent  waste  every  one  can  do  something.  As  a  ratepayer  he 
can  take  care  that  only  those  are  elected  to  serve  as  Guardians  of  the 
poor,  who  will  administer  the  poor  rate  so  that  the  old  and  feeble  may 
be  properly  maintained,  and  that  the'  able-bodied  may  be  encouraged 
and  forced,  if  need  be,  to  maintain  themselves.  As  an  administrator 
of  charitable  funds  he  can  assist  in  those  cases  where  the  Poor  Law  can 
do  nothing,  always  bearing  in  mind  this  main  purpose — the  restitution 
of  independence. 


278        IN  TERNAriONAI,    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


ST.    OLAVE'S. 

f.Y  C.   r.    LARNER,    DISTRICT    SECRETARY    TO    THE    SI.    OLAVe's    COMMITTEE, 

C.    O.    S. 


On  the  south  side  of  the  Thames,  opposite  the  Tower,  lie  the  parishes 
of  Bermondsey  and  Rotherhithe,  which,  with  three  smaller  parishes 
near  London  Bridge,  comprise  the  jjoor  law  union  of  St.  Olave.  The 
whole  district  stretches  from  the  Borough  on  the  west,  to  Deptford  on 
the  east,  the  semi-suburban  parish  of  Camberwell  constituting,  roughly 
speaking,  its  southern  boundary.  With  a  population  in  1891  of  136,000, 
St.  Olave's  offers  many  features  of  interest,  and  also  of  difficulty,  in 
discussing  the  question  of  social  reform.  Like  many  other  metropoli- 
tan districts,  it  has  changed  much  during  the  last  fifty  years,  both  in 
the  character  of  its  population  and  in  their  manner  of  living.  Ber- 
mondsey was  one  of  the  centres  of  the  leather  trade;  Rotherhithe 
partook  of  the  nature  of  a  port  outside  the  metropolitan  boundary; 
South  Bermondsey,  as  it  now  is,  was  left  to  the  tiller  of  allotments, 
and  to  the  market  gardener.  Now  a  great  part  of  the  leather  trade 
has  gone  either  to  the  North  of  England  or  to  America,  and  one  would 
have  to  walk  a  long  time  about  Rotherhithe  before  meeting  a  sea-cap- 
tain. Employers  of  labor  generally,  with  the  exception  of  shopkeepers, 
live  away  from  the  district;  the  educated  classes  are  represented  by 
clergymen  and  doctors;  the  people  themselves  belong  to  the  working 
classes,  with  a  sprinkling  of  clerks  and  board  school  teachers.  In 
fact  its  proximity  to  the  city  has  made  the  district  almost  a  residential 
one  for  the  weekly-paid  wage  earner,  who  finds  that  ten  minutes  spent 
on  the  railway  at  an  expenditure  of  ij^d.  takes  him  from  his  home  in 
Bermondsey  to  the  heart  of  the  city. 

In  a  community  of  this  kind  relief  whether  private,  endowed,  or 
from  the  State,  has  ample  opportunities  for  good  or  for  evil;  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  the  latter  influence  has  not  been  altogether  absent.  For  if 
the  demand  is  great  the  supply  is  no  less  so.  First  in  the  district  in 
the  ranks  of  public  assistance  stand  the  medical  charities,  and  at  the 
head  of  these  is  the  famous  Guy's  Hospital.  Established  by  the  old 
city  bookseller  in  1725,  it  has  undergone  numerous  alterations  and  has 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  279 

been  greatly  enlarged,  so  that  now  it  has  accomodations  for  695  in- 
patients. The  out-patients  are  counted  by  the  ten  thousand.  That  it 
is  a  great  boon  to  the  poor  of  south-east  London  cannot  be  doubted; 
that  it  is  a  great  and  permanent  block  to  the  development  of  provident 
dispensaries  is  equally  certain.  Attached  to  the  hospital  is  a  lying-in 
charity  limited  to  the  district  situated  within  a  mile  of  Guy's.  Two 
other  medical  charities  exist — the  Surrey  Dispensary  founded  in  1777, 
with  its  14,000  patients  in  1892,  and  the  Lady  Gomm  Hospital  in 
Rotherhithe.  The  latter  is  a  small  foundation.  In  addition  to  these 
there  is  a  District  Nursing  Association  maintained  by  annual  subscrip- 
tions, and  the  district,  as  a  working  class  one,  shares  largely  in  such 
metropolitan  institutions  as  the  Hospital  Saturday  and  Sunday  Funds, 
and  the  Surgical  Aid  Society,  the  latter  with  their  highly  objectionable 
many  letter  system.  The  chief  endowed  charities  are  found  in  the 
old  parishes  of  St.  Olave  and  St.  John,  near  to  London  Bridge.  Up 
to  quite  recently  these  charities  presented  many  of  the  abuses  so  often 
associated  with  ancient  foundations.  With  an  income  of  over  ^10,000 
a  year,  there  was  ample  room  for  unwise  and  extravagant  expenditure. 
About  two-thirds  of  this  sum  went  for  the  support  of  a  free  grammar 
school  for  boys  and  a  similar  school  for  girls.  The  remainder  was 
spent  in  pensions  to  persons,  some  over  fifty  and  some  over  sixty,  in 
apprenticeship  fees,  in  training  poor  girls  as  servants,  in  bread,  and  in 
temporary  relief  to  residents.  The  trustees  were  chosen  from  the  prin- 
cipal inhabitants  of  the  two  parishes,  or  from  gentlemen  carrying  on 
business  there,  and  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  with  an  elastic  fund  for 
such  delightfully  vague  purposes  as  temporary  relief,  a  trustee's  posi- 
tion carried  with  it  many  opportunities  for  jobbery  and  corrupt  patron- 
age. Individually  the  trustees  could  give  help  in  the  form  of  tickets 
and  bring  the  case  forward  for  money  grants  at  the  monthly  board 
meetings,  where  it  would  be  pretty  sure  to  receive  help.  Under  these 
conditions  to  have  lived  for  a  number  of  years  in  these  parishes  was  no 
small  advantage  to  a  poor  person,  while  to  have  been  born  there  was 
pretty  sure  to  meet  with  substantial  recognition.  A  very  simple 
instance  of  the  sense  of  injustice  which  may  be  produced  in  the  minds 
of  the  poor  by  a  careless  though  well-meaning  administering  of  chari- 
table funds  may  be  seen  in  the  action  of  the  trustees  with  respect  to 
country  holidays  for  school  children. 

There  is  in  London  a  society  called  the  Children's  Country  Holiday 
Fund,    which  collects   subscriptions   for  the   purpose   of   helping   poor 


2So         INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

children  to  have  a  fortnight's  stay  in  the  country.  The  society  has 
local  committees  distributed  through  the  metropolis,  which  work 
through  the  elementary  schools  in  their  respective  districts.  The 
])arents  contribute  according  to  their  means,  and  the  average  sum  paid 
by  them  is  between  ^s.  6d.  and  4^.  for  the  two  week's  stay.  But  in  the 
parishes  of  St.  Olave  and  St.  John,  the  trustees  have  been  in  the  habit 
of  taking  children  for  the  sum  of  one  shilling,  and  it  is  a  difficult  thing 
for  the  poor  people  of  Bermondsey  proper  to  understand  why  they 
should  be  called  upon  to  pay  4^-.  for  their  children  when  their  neighbors 
on  the  other  side  of  the  street,  and  possibly  in  a  better  position,  pay 
only  a  quarter  of  the  amount. 

Attached  to  both  Bermondsey  and  Rotherhithe  are  a  number  of  old- 
fashioned  parochial  charities  for  the  supply  of  food  and  clothing  to 
poor  folk.  They  are,  almost  without  exception,  in  the  gift  of  the 
rectors,  church  wardens  and  overseers,  and  the  suggestion  that  regu- 
larity in  attending  the  parish  church  may  bring  about  material  gain 
is  more  direct  than  pleasing.  Rotherhithe  has  two  pension  funds,  deal- 
ing with  about  fifty  pensioners.  One,  the  Gomm  Charity,  provides 
pensions  of  ^10  each  to  fifteen  old  men  and  women.  The  other,  the 
Bayly  Charity,  grants  ^5  a  year  to  thirty-four  widows,  aged  fifty  and 
upwards,  and  not  receiving  parish  relief.  This  sum  is  obviously 
absurdly  inadequate,  and  one  of  two  results  follows:  either  it  serves 
as  a  nucleus  to  which  other  sums  will  be  attracted,  thus  enabling  the 
recipient  to  live — and  assuming  that  proper  discretion  is  used,  to  this 
there  is  no  objection;  or  it  is  given  to  widows  who  are  able  to  work, 
and  becomes  merely  a  grant  in  aid  of  wages  and  is  little  removed  in 
this  respect  from  ordinary  out-relief.  And  this  is  exactly  what  very 
often  occurs,  for  it  is  well  known  that  the  ordinary  working  woman 
does  not  stop  work  at  fifty;  she  goes  on  with  her  employment  to  sixty - 
five  or  seventy,  sometimes  later,  and  the  ^5  thus  enable  her  to  live 
on  a  correspondingly  smaller  amount  of  wages  than  her  less  fortunate 
neighbor.  Beside  these  fixed  charities,  there  are  attached  to  all  the 
churches  and  chapels  in  the  district  various  funds  for  the  relief  of  the 
sick  and  the  poor.  Those  belonging  to  the  established  church  are 
helped  largely  by  the  Metropolitan  District  Visiting  Association,  and 
are  used  for  parish  purposes  generally;  those  belonging  to  the  non- 
conformist places  of  worship  are  more  commonly  confined  to  members 
of  the  respective  denominations.  There  is  a  goodly  number  of  friendly 
societies  in  the  locality,  the  Odd  Fellows  and   Foresters  being  the  most 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  28  I 

numerous.  Some  of  the  lodges  and  courts  have  supplementary'  funds 
attached  to  them,  formed  by  extra  voluntary  subscriptions  of  the  mem- 
bers, for  the  purpose  of  paying  the  regular  subscriptions  of  such  mem- 
bers as,  through  lack  of  work  or  some  other  exceptional  reason,  can- 
not keep  up  their  dues.  Several  of  the  trade  societies  have  sick  funds 
attached  to  them,  but  this  is  not  usual,  and  does  not  of  course  in  any 
way  affect  the  riverside  and  unskilled  laborers  who  form  so  large  a  pro- 
portion of  the  population.  In  winters  of  exceptional  severity  there  is 
the  usual  tendency  to  form  relief  funds,  but  the  unsatisfactory  nature 
of  working  them  has  become  more  apparent  each  time  they  have  been 
formed. 

From  what  has  been  said  it  will  be  inferred  that  the  St.  Olave's  Union 
is  more  generously  supplied  than  many  with  the  means  of  assisting 
and  permanently  benefiting  such  of  its  population  as  may  be  in  need  of 
help.  And  when  added  to  these  sources  of  relief,  there  is  the  charity 
organization  committee  prepared  to  deal  with  any  applications  which 
may  come  from  the  district,  one  might  not  unreasonably  suppose  that 
the  work  of  the  poor  law  authorities  would  lie  in  a  very  restricted 
province.  Unfortunately  this  is  not  the  case.  St.  Olave's  has  the 
reputation,  and  a  very  just  reputation,  of  being  one  of  the  worst 
administered  unions  in  the  country.  Out-relief  is  rampant  and  has 
for  the  last  few  years  been  on  the  increase.  The  results  are  the  usual 
ones,  demoralization  of  the  poor  and  high  rates.  The  latter  is  an  im- 
portant point,  but  not  to  be  compared  with  the  former.  It  is  positively 
painful  to  be  continually  coming  across  apparently  decent  respectable 
people,  who  have  lost  their  self-respect  and  seem  to  have  no  sense  of 
degradation  in  becoming  paupers.  A  visitor  at  the  parish  offices  is 
told  by  an  official  when  discussing  the  increase  in  the  number  of  appli- 
cants, that  "lots  come  up  on  the  chance  of  getting  something."  The 
vice-chairman  of  the  Board  of  Guardians  expresses  surprise  that  the 
numbers  of  in-paupers  should  have  gone  up  when  they  are  giving  more 
out-relief,  as  if  the  two  were  not  bound  up  together.  Similar  instances 
of  demoralization  and  ignorance  might  be  added  galore.  Financially 
the  result  is  to  send  the  rates  up  in  Bermondsey  to  "js.  6d.  in  the  pound, 
and  this  has  had  the  effect  of  at  any  rate  making  people  think  about 
what  they  are  doing,  and  the  recent  elections  shovv  a  tendency  towards 
improvement.  This  condition  of  things  has  been  aggravated  greatly 
by  the  elections  being  fought  on  political  lines.  The  two  parties  have 
issued  their  tickets  and  their  programmes.     The  candidates  have  been 


282        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

chosen,  not  because  they  were  likely  to  be  wise  administrators,  but 
because  they  were  staunch  Radicals  or  good  Tories.  The  union  has 
accordingly  been  in  the  hands  of  men  who  could  do  almost  anything 
except  administer  the  Poor  Law.  With  a  wise  poor  law  policy  there 
would  be  difficulties  enough;  with  a  policy  that  scarcely  deserves  the 
name,  the  situation  is  much  more  serious.  It  is  impossible  to  have 
an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  district  without  a  profound  feeling  that 
at  the  bottom  of  every  charitable  effort  must  lie  a  reform  of  the  public 
administration.  When  this  is  effected,  and  not  before,  those  responsi- 
ble for  the  dispensing  of  charitable  funds,  both  private  and  public,  may 
feel  that  there  is  some  hope  of  their  work  producing  results  not  alto- 
gether out  of  proportion  to  their  efforts. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  283 


CHARITV^  ORGANIZATION  IN  ISLINGTON. 

BY    MISS    L.     SHARPE,    HONORARY    SECRETARY    TO    THE    ISLINGTON    COMMIl- 

TEE,     C.    O.    S. 

No  present  stands  without  its  foundation  in  the  past,  and  the  future, 
as  has  been  aptly  said,  <'does  not  come  from  before  to  meet  us,  but  comes 
streaming  up  from  behind  over  our  heads;"  so  no  statement  of  charity 
organization  in  Islington  can  be  complete,  without  some  consideration 
of  the  local  history  and  the  special  characteristics  of  the  district  in 
which  the  society  here  works. 

Islington  seems  to  have  been  distinguished  from  very  early  days  for 
its  piety  and  its  pastimes.  On  the  one  hand  we  have  the  records  in  old 
times  of  numerous  monastic  and  ecclesiastical  foundations,  while  in  later 
days  the  parish  has  been  a  remarkable  stronghold  for  Evangelical  Pro- 
testantism in  church  and  dissent,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  citizens 
of  London  seem  to  have  looked  on  Islington  from  time  immemorial 
as  a  place  for  pleasuring  and  entertainment.  While  Goldsmith  selects 
Islington  as  the  abode  of  the  man  who  ran  "a  godly  race,"  John  Gil- 
pin's "merrie  Islington"  is  equally  characteristic. 

The  pious  founders  of  the  many  parochial  charities  of  Islington,  in 
the  same  way  bear  in  mind  in  their  bequests  the  spiritual  and  material 
interests  of  the  parish.  There  are  many  endowments  for  the  saying  of 
masses,  the  distribution  of  Bibles  and  prayer  books,  the  preaching  of 
sermons  and  the  catechising  of  children,  side  by  side  with  perpetual 
gifts  of  coal  and  bread  and  clothing  to  the  poor,  legacies  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  testator's  tomb  and,  in  one  case,  for  an  annual  dinner 
to  the  trustees. 

It  would  seem  as  if  the  mantle  of  their  predecessors  had  in  some 
degree  fallen  on  the  shoulders  of  the  present  inhabitants,  for  never  was 
there  a  district  where  flourished  so  many  concerts  and  dramatic  enter- 
tainments for  charitable  objects,  so  many  bazaars  and  sales  of  work  for 
churches,  chapels  and  missions.  We  have  heard  of  the  Shetland  Islan- 
ders who  "earned  a  scanty  living  by  taking  in  one  another's  washing," 
and  it  appears  as  if  charities  in  Islington  maintained  their  existence  by 


284        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

the    mutual    exchange    of   fancy    needle     work    and    the    musical    and 
dramatic  talents  of  the  charitable. 

Another  notable  feature  in  the  history  of  Islington  is  its  recent  extra- 
ordinary growth  of  population.  In  the  17th  century  Cowley  speaks  of 
"a  village  fair  as  Islington,"  "a  solitude  almost."  In  1793,  the  popu- 
lation was  estimated  at  6,600.  The  census  of  1801,  gave  it  as  10,212, 
and  the  census  of  1891,  as  319,433.  During  the  last  50  years  it  has 
increased  at  the  rate  of  5,000  per  annum,  though  the  increase  has  been 
less  in  the  last  decade  than  in  the  two  preceding  ones.  The  little  rural 
village  once  stood  in  the  midst  of  its  3,000  acres  of  fields  and  farmland. 
The  3,000  acres  still  remain  one  ecclesiastical  parish  and  one  union 
as  far  as  Vestry  and  Guardians  are  concerned,  but  the  fields  and  gardens 
and  lanes  have  given  place  to  streets  of  houses  and  blocks  of  industrial 
dwellings;  the  mother  church  is  supported  by  forty  district  churches, 
while  one  Vestry  and  Board  of  Guardians  are  still  responsible  for  its 
local  government.  The  parish  is  in  some  respects  like  an  overgrown 
family,  where  the  children  have  increased  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
strength  and  resources  of  parental  government.  We  have  in  the  cen- 
tre the  parochial  traditions  and  institutions  of  a  small  village  linked 
with  the  huge  proportions  and  all  the  indifference  to  local  interests 
of  one  of  the  largest  of  metropolitan  suburbs. 

'I'his  sudden  rapid  growth  may  account  in  part,  for  an  incapacity  to 
keep  pace  with  the  times,  in  ^some  directions.  It  is  typical  of  the 
mind  of  Islington  that  it  has  steadily  resisted  a  free  public  library,  though 
canvassed  for  it  several  times.  The  administration  of  the  Poor  Law, 
which  is  so  intimately  connected  with  charity  organization  work,  is  distin- 
guished in  Islington  by  a  lax  system  of  outdoor  relief.  The  pauper- 
ism, especially  the  outdoor  pauperism,  shows  of  late  years  a  steady 
increase.  Although  the  population  made  far  greater  strides  between 
187 1  and  1 88 1,  than  between  1881  and  1891,  the  increase  of  pauper- 
ism has  been  more  than  twice  as  great  in  the  latter  decade.  The 
official  records  for  the  half  years  ending  Lady-day  and  Michaelmas, 
1892,  show  19,127  and  17,440  paupers  relieved  in  the  respective  half 
years  in  Islington  and  of  these  numbers  more  than  half  received  out- 
door relief.  Between  ^15,000  and  ^16,000  per  annum  is  being  spent 
on  money  and  food  given  to  the  poor  at  their  homes.  Those  who  have 
any  experience  of  the  matter  know  the  degradation  of  the  poor  of  the 
district  which  this  state  of  things  represents.  The  impossibility  of 
discriminating  between  good  and  bad  applicants — since  destitution  is 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  285 

the  only  claim  for  assistance — makes  poor  law  relief  without  the  work- 
house check  a  constant  encouragement  to  idleness  and  want  of  thrift; 
and  the  Charity  Organization  Society  whose  aim  is  the  increase  of  thrift 
and  independence,  and  the  elevation  of  moral  character  among  the 
poor,  has  up-hill  work  in  such  a  district.  Not  only  the  poor  themselves, 
but  their  charitable  helpers  are  entirely  confused  as  to  when  there  is  "a 
right  to  relief,"  and  the  energy  of  self-helpfulness  and  mutual  helpful- 
ness is  gradually  sapped. 

There  has  been  no  systematic  co-operation  between  the  Board  of 
Guardians  and  the  Islington  Charity  Organization  Committee  in  Isling- 
ton, as  in  many  other  districts,  but  a  better  feeling  of  understanding 
has  been  slowly  growing  and  it  is  hoped  that  in  time  an  established 
plan  of  mutual  assistance  may  result. 

The  Charity  Organization  Committee  like  other  agencies  in  Islington 
suffers  from  too  large  a  constituency,  and  while  attempting  to  bring 
itself  into  touch  with  very  many  people  and  to  bring  them  into  touch 
with  each  other,  is  in  danger  of  having  no  thorough  co-operation  with 
any.  The  Society  has  been  at  work  in  the  district  some  twenty-one 
years,  at  first  taking  the  whole  parish.  But  about  ten  years  ago  the 
Committee  wisely  determined  it  was  useless  to  try  to  cover  3000  acres, 
and  deal  with  a  population  of  300,000,  and  they  cut  off  from  their 
operations  about  half  the  area  of  the  parish.  It  is  a  melancholy  fact, 
indicative  of  the  want  of  appreciation  of  the  charity  organization 
idea,  that  in  these  ten  years  no  serious  attempt  has  been  made  by 
charitable  workers  or  the  inhabitants  of  the  district  cut  adrift,  to  estab- 
lish any  committee  of  organization  and  many  of  its  streets  remain  the 
happy  hunting  ground  of  beggars  and  impostors,  while  churches  and 
institutions  for  assisting  the  people  rapidly  increase. 

Spite  of  many  drawbacks  charity  organization  in  southern  Islington  has 
made  slow  but  sure  progress.  The  first  records  of  cases  dealt  with  by  this 
committee  in  187 1  are  curious  and  interesting  as  showing  how  methods 
and  aims  have  changed  since  then.  At  the  second  committee  meeting 
a  man  was  apparently  given  into  custody  of  the  police  at  the  office  for 
persisting  in  false  statements  and  thus  attempting  to  obtain  money  on 
false  pretences.  This  ex]jeriment  of  repressing  mendicity  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  repeated,  although  in  the  first  21  months  103  prose- 
cutions for  begging  were  undertaken.  A  very  large  number  of  false 
addresses  and  otherwise  "undeserving"  cases  shows  that  the  system  of 
thorough  inquiry  had  hardly  yet  been   realized  by  the  impostors  and 


286        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

the  unworthy  who  now  to  a  great  extent  avoid  charity  organization 
offices  or  "object  to  inquiry"  when  they  come,  thus  reducing  the  pro- 
portion of  unhelpable  cases  dismissed  by  committee.  Let  us  hope  also 
that  growing  experience  and  increased  resources  have  developed  better 
means  and  methods  of  helping. 

The  original  Islington  Committee  set  out,  like  the  rest  of  the  Society, 
with  the  idea  of  repressing  mendicity  and  inquiring  into  and  reporting 
on  cases  of  distress  for  charitable  people  and  agencies.  And  it  is  very 
probable  that  bad  or  doubtful  cases  were  most  often  sent  to  them.  Now 
it  is  notable  that  the  clergy  of  Islington  send  cases  almost  exclusively 
with  a  view  to  assistance  and  hardly  ever  for  information  as  to  character. 

In  the  first  three  months  of  the  committee's  existence  it  appears 
that  out  of  about  200  cases,  82  were  not  recommended  for  help,  90 
were  recommended  and  referred  to  private  individuals  and  charita- 
ble agencies,  though  whether  they  were  assisted  is  not  shown.  5 
received  hospital  and "  convalescent  letters  and  i  remarkable  person 
a  grant  of  money.  About  30  tramps  were  given  bread  to  eat  at  the 
office,  and  it  is  not  wonderful  that  a  number  of  homeless  people  con- 
tinued to  apply  for  this  privilege  until  the  system  was  modified  and  the 
number  of  people  with  "no  home"  rapidly  diminished. 

It  was  really  not  consistent  with  the  human  nature  of  committees  to 
continue  this  plan  of  inquiry  and  reporting  only,  and  it  was  soon  given 
up,  and  grants  and  loans  of  money  and  other  gifts  through  the  commit- 
tee increased  and  "adequate  relief"  became  the  watchword. 

But  record  books  show  little  of  the  good  work  that  may  be  done  by 
committees  and  their  allies,  and  it  would  be  unfair  even  to  judge  them 
by  their  annual  reports,  though  these,  with  occasional  waves  of  depres- 
sion, show  in  Islington  an  advancing  tide  of  life  and  zeal,  with  higher 
and  wider  aspirations  and  greater  courage  in  attempting  their  realiza- 
tion. 

The  present  Islington  Committee  has  the  advantage  of  being  composed 
entirely  of  local  members,  people  who  live  in  the  district  and  care  for 
the  district  they  live  in,  and  who  are  all,  moreover,  earnest  workers  and 
assist  beyond  the  committee  meetings  in  carrying  out  the  work  of  the 
society.  Linked  with  them  is  an  always  increasing  number  of  local 
workers,  who  give  valuable  aid  in  various  ways  by  visiting  and  talking 
with  applicants,  collecting  loans  and  savings,  befriending  sick  and  old 
people,  assisting  in  spreading  the  Society's  views,  and  in  the  necessary 
business   routine   of  the   office.      Each   one   does   far   more   for  charity 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  287 

organization  in  its  widest  sense  than  the  special  piece  of  work  they 
take  up.  For  once  introduced  to  the  ideal  of  a  higher  charity  and 
trained,  however  unconsciously  and  inadequately,  in  some  of  its 
methods,  there  is  no  going  back  to  a  lower  standard,  and  the  influence 
of  each  person  so  initiated  must  surely  spread  in  time  to  a  wider  circle, 
and  must  make  itself  felt  in  whatever  sphere  of  work  they  choose. 
Some  of  our  allied  workers  have  formed  a  band  of  visitors  to  collect 
the  savings  of  the  poor,  others  have  taken  up  rent  collecting  and  the 
superintendence  of  neglected  blocks  of  buildings  on  Miss  Octavia  Hill's 
plan;  others  are  superintending  a  library,  and  some  are  visiting  for  the 
Children's  Country  Holiday  Fund,  or  the  Society  for  Befriending 
Young  Servants;  while  others  again  have  been  called  to  posts  of  respon- 
sibility in  other  parts  of  London,  and  in  religious  or  social  work  are 
putting  into  practice,  we  hope  and  believe,  the  lessons  learnt  with  our 
committee.  As  a  proof  nearer  home  that  the  idea  of  thorough  help 
hand  in  hand  with  the  promotion  of  thrift  and  character  is  spreading, 
we  note  that  one  clergyman  at  least  has  abolished  the  ticket  dole 
system,  and  established  a  committee  for  inquiry  and  consideration  of 
cases  in  his  own  district.  Another  is  substituting  substantial  help  in 
the  way  of  convalescent  aid  for  smaller  gifts,  and  two  or  three  are 
encouraging  "provident  visiting"  for  collecting  savings,  a  plan  almost 
incompatible  with  dole  giving. 

But  such  influence  and  results  are  slow  to  show  themselves,  and 
the  committee's  work  is  still  far  too  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  com- 
munity. 

All  charitable  work  in  Islington  centres  round  some  church  or  chapel 
or  religious  movement,  and  while  this  brings  into  the  field  many  earn- 
est workers,  their  point  of  view  in  dealing  with  poor  people  in  need 
remains  still  very  different  from  that  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society. 
Religious  instruction,  combined  with  intermittent  attempts  to  alleviate 
suffering  and  distress,  the  weekly  visit,  the  weekly  ticket,  the  Bible 
reading  and  invitation  to  church  or  chapel  or  prayer  meeting,  these  are 
the  methods  most  in  vogue;  while  soup  kitchens,  free  breakfasts,  half- 
penny dinners,  and  wholesale  Christmas  beef  and  plum  pudding  distri- 
butions are  largely  supported  by  the  richest  inhabitants,  and  adminis- 
tered from  churches  and  chapels,  with  little  or  no  co-operation  between 
the  various  agencies,  rather  it  would  seem  a  rivalry  as  to  which  can 
attract  the  most  applicants  for  relief,  and  the  largest  potential  numbers' 
of  attendants  at  their  services. 


288        IN  lERNA  riOXAL    CONdRF.SS    OF    CHARI  I  IF.S    AND    CORRFXTION. 

t 

The  great  problem  of  charity  organization  in  Islington  is  how  are  we 
to  bring  these  good  people  into  sympathy  with  each  other  and  with  our- 
selves, and  how  are  we  to  persuade  them  to  act  on  those  convictions 
which  thoughtful  experience  must  bring  home  to  all  minds.  All  will  be 
ready  to  admit  that  character  is  the  basis  of  any  real  improvement, 
moral  or  spiritual,  that  truthfulness  of  word,  deed  and  thought  can 
be  the  only  real  foundation  of  religion,  and  that  small,  irregular  gifts 
without  inquiry  of  circumstances  or  knowledge  of  other  givers  lead  to 
concealrhent,  hypocrisy  and  untruthfulness;  but  few  are  ready  to  take 
the  trouble  and  the  time  which  action  consistent  with  this  belief  entails. 
All  will  agree  with  Emerson's  words:  "It  is  a  low  benefit  to  give  me 
anything,  it  is  a  high  benefit  to  enable  me  to  do  something  for  myself;" 
but  how  are  we  to  set  to  work  in  combination — for  in  selfish  isolation 
we  can  do  nothing — to  help  to  enable  the  poorer  inhabitants  of  Islington 
to  do  better  things  for  themselves?  What  is  the  most  effective  way  to 
work  for  character?  That  should  be  the  question  before  all  religious 
and  charitable  workers,  and  pity  it  is  that  all  cannot  combine  thought 
and  wisdom,  heart  and  head  to  answer  it. 

There  is  another  large  section  of  the  population  that  charity  organi- 
zation has  practically  left  untouched  in  Islington,  but  which  must  be 
captured  before  any  real  progress  has  been  made.  The  parish  has 
the  advantage  of  being,  for  the  most  part,  neither  very  rich  nor  very 
poor.  On  Mr.  Booth's  map  of  London,  Islington  shows  but  few  gol- 
den, or  wealthy  spots,  and  very  few  blue  and  black  resorts  of 
criminals  and  the  lowest  class.  Shades  of  pink  and  red  prevail  and 
the  best  houses  are  often  quite  near  to  the  poorest. 

The  majority  of  the  population  is  composed  of  respectable  artizans, 
railway  servants,  warehousemen  and  clerks,  who  hate  the  very  name 
of  charity  in  connection  with  themselves  or  their  families,  but  believe 
in  charitable  gifts  and  outdoor  relief  for  those  poorer  than  themselves, 
and  object  to  the  Charity  Organization  Society,  if  they  know  anything 
about  it,  because  they  have  heard  that  it  protests  against  this  kind  of 
relief.  From  their  ranks  come  the  men  and  women  who  are  active  in 
political  associations,  who  are  leaders  at  dissenting  chapels  and  among 
trades  unions,  benefit  clubs  and  co-operative  societies,  and  many 
of  whom  are  beginning  to  take  part  in  local  government.  Their 
experience  of  hard  work,  industry  and  economy  ought  to  be  most  help- 
ful  to  charity  organizers  in  keeping  before  their  eyes  the  healthy  side 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  289 

of  working  class  life,  in  contradistinction   to  the  diseased  and  decrepit 
aspects  which  are  brought  most  often  to  the  front. 

The  power  of  these  people  in  lifting  "the  next  below"  them  ought 
to  be  immeasurably  greater  than  that  of  those  who  have  to  come  down 
a  step  or  two  to  reach  the  position  of  the  unfortunate;  their  influence 
in  social  and  political  movements  is  undoubtedly  great.  For  all  these 
reasons  we  ought  to  be  in  sympathy  with  them,  to  be  learning  from  them 
and  at  work  with  them.  But  so  far  the  Islington  Charity  Organization 
Committee  know  almost  nothing  of  these  neighbors  and  it  is  to  be  feared 
that  what  they  know,  or  fancy  they  know  of  us  they  dislike. 

Such  are  some  of  the  problems  of  charity  organization  with  the 
local  color  of  Islington.  The  aims  and  ideals  which  we  share  in  com- 
mon with  the  whole  society  will  be  better  dealt  with  elsewhere  and  need 
not  be  diminished  in  brightness  and  force  by  the  prentice  hand  of  the 
local  artist. 

Briefly  stated  here  is  the  Islington  position  with  the  problems  and 
work  that  lie  before  the  Charity  Organization  Committee: 

Granted,  that  we  have  made  some  progress  in  twenty-one  years  and 
that  many  who  formerly  turned  their  back  on  us  and  spoke  evil  of  us, 
now  look  on  us  with  friendliness  and  occasionally  lend  us  a  helping 
hand; 

Granted,  that  we  have  extended  our  power  of  usefulness  and  have 
brought  up  the  level  of  our  "case  work,"  so  that  we  have  gained  a  char- 
acter for  thorough  help; 

Granted,  that  we  have  trained  to  a  certain  extent  a  number  of 
workers  whose  influence  spreads  abroad; 

How  are  we  to  bring  about  a  better  administration  of  the  Poor  Law 
which  is  so  absolutely  essential  to  the  improvement  of  the  district? 

How  are  we  to  subdivide  our  district  so  as  to  get  to  know  the 
charitable  workers  and  persuade  them  to  act  on  the  principles  they  will 
often  admit  in  argument  to  be  right? 

How  are  we  to  learn  to  understand  the  upper  working  class  and  how 
bring  them  to  know  the  truths  we  are  striving  for,  so  as  to  have  their 
sympathy  and  influence  with  us  in  social  reform  ? 

For  all  these  things  we  need  evangelists,  united  by  a  common 
enthusiasm  for  the  gospel  of  charity,  patient  with  its  slow  progress  and 
its  humble  details,  strong  with  the  "undying  hope"  which  is  "the  secret 
of  vision." 


19 


290        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


CO-OPERATION  OF  CHARITABLE  AGENCIES  WITH  THE 
POOR  LAW,  WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  ST.  GEORGE 
IN  THE  EAST. 

BY  T.  MACKAY,  HONORARY  SECRETARY  TO  THE  ST.  GEORGE  IN  THE 

EAST  COMMITTEE,  C.  O.  S. 

All  agencies  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  should   have  two  objects  in 
view:  (i)  The  relief  of  distress;  (2)  The  removal  of  the  causes  of  dis- 
tress.    It  ig  sometimes  said  that  the  Charity  Organization  Society  con- 
cerns itself  too  exclusively  with  the  prevention  of  pauperism,  and  that 
it  is  indifferent  to  the  cause  of  abundant  and  adequate  relief.     On  this 
criticism  I  will  only  remark  that  the  bitterest  element  in  the  distress  of 
the  poor  arises,  not  from  mere  poverty,  but  from  the  feeling  of  depen- 
dence which  must   of  necessity  be  an   ingredient  in  every  measure  of 
public  relief.     This  feeling  cannot  be  removed,  but  is  rather  intensified 
by  liberal  measures  of  public  relief.     This  fact  might  in  itself  be  justifi- 
cation for  those  who  would  say,   "The  object  of  our  efforts  is  not  only 
the  relief  of  the  poor,  but  their  independence."     There  is  a  section  of 
the  well-to-do  classes  of  society  who,  unfortunately,  limit  their  concep- 
tion of  their  duty  to  their  poorer  neighbors  to  relief,  and  plenty  of  it, 
from  legal   or  from   voluntary  sources.      It   is  in  their  view  the  ransom 
due  from   those  who  are  well-to-do  in  this  world's  goods.     There  is  a 
section  also  among  the  poorer  classes  who  have  a  vague  feeling  of  some 
injustice  which  depresses  them.     It   is  foreign   to  the  purpose  of  this 
paper  to  discuss  how   far  this  feeling  of  resentment  is  justified.      It  is 
mentioned  only  to  remark  that  this  feeling  sometimes  makes  itself  felt 
by  demands  on  the  Poor  Law  for  forms  of  relief  which  have  been  already 
tried  and  condemned   in  the  experience  of  the  past.     It  is  worth  notice 
that  such  demands,  as  a  rule,  take  the  form  of  "work,"  not  "  charity," 
and  that  among  the  poor  themselves  little  or  no  support  has  been  given 
to  a  mere  policy  of  extensive  relief,  such  as  making  the  old  age  main- 
tenance of  the  community  a  charge  on  the  rates.     What  the  poor  want, 
they  say,  is  better  wages   and  better  conditions  of  life.      Controversy, 
of  course,  rages  as  to  what  is  the  best  course   for  the  poor  to  follow  in 
this  quest.     The  Society,  unpopular  though  it  may  be  with  the  working 
class,  can  yet  distinctly  claim  to  have  them  on  its  side  in  this  matter. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION. 


291 


Its  business  is  to  insist,  in  the  hearing  of  all  men,  that  independence  is 
a  nobler  ideal  than  any  form  of  dependence,  however  adequately  and 
abundantly  relieved. 

As  a  further  justification  of  the  practical  wisdom  of  its  attitude  in 
aiming  at  the  independence,  as  well  as  the  relief  of  the  poor,  it  may 
point  to  the  fact  that  during  the  fifteen  years  covered  by  the  last  report 
of  the  Statistical  Abstract,  1877-91,  the  invested  savings  of  the  work- 
ing class  have  risen  from  11 1  millions  to  220  millions.*  Here  is  a  new 
creation  of  wealth,  not   arising    out  of  the  confiscation  of  other  men's 


*  This  assertion  is  based  on  the  following  calculation  from  the  Statistical  Ab- 
stract, 39th  number,  and  other  available  sources,  as  to  the  more  obvious  institu- 
tions where  working  class  savings  are  deposited  : — 

Present  Time,  say  1 89 1. 

*Post-office  Savings  Bank,  1891  ^,^71, 608, 000 

*Trustee  Savings   Bank,  1891 42,875,000 

♦Government  stock  standing  in  name  of  depositors  at 

Post-office,  1891 5,087,000 

♦Government  stock  standing  in  name  of  depositors  at 

Trustee  Banks,  1891 1,282,000 


♦Building  Societies,  1890 

♦Industrial    and    Provident    (Co-operative)    Societies, 

1890 

♦Industrial  Insurance  Companies,   1890 

tFriendly   Societies 

JCoUecting  Friendly  Societies,  1889 


8,873,000 

20,167,000 

2,565,000 


^120,832,000 
52,482,000 

15,621,000 

31,605,000 
^220,180,000 


Fifteen  Years  ago,  say  1877. 

*Post-office  Savings  Bank,  1877 ;i^ 28, 740, 000 

♦Trustee  Savings  Bank,    1877 44,238,000 

*Government  stock  standing  in  name  of  depositors  at 

Post-office,  1881,  (no  earlier  figures  given) 738,000 

♦Go'^ernment  stock  standing  in  name  of  depositors  at 

Trustee  Banks,  1S81,  (no  earlier  dates  given) 124,000 


•Building  Societies,  1876 

*Industrial  and  I'lovident  (Co-operative)  Societies, 
1876. 

*Industrial  Insurance  Companies,  1880,  (no  earlier 
figures  given)  

tFriendly  Societies,  1876,  (as  estimated  by  Mr.  Lud- 
low, "Chief   Registrar's   Report,"  1890,    Part  A, 

P-  9.)  


♦Statistical  Abstract,  1877  to  i8qi,  ^nth  number. 

■Vkev.  T.  Frome  Wilkinson,  "Aliitual  Thrift."     Estimated,  p.  iqi. 

JRev.  T.  Frome  Wilkinson,  "Mutual  Thrift,"  p.  194. 


;ii;73.840,000 
20,854,000 

6,224,000 

1,476,000 

9,336,000 
^111,730,000 


292        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

goods,  but  owned  and  acquired  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  our 
country  and  the  principles  of  private  property.  Surely  a  process  is  here 
disclosed  from  which  we  can  justly  hope  for  the  spread  of  the  blessing 
of  independence  among  our  laboring  class.  Contrast  this  with  the 
vague  hopes  held  out  that  some  species  of  common  property  will  yet  be 
devised  which  will  make  the  acquisition  of  private  property  by  the  poor 
an  unnecessary  thing.  I  will  not  carry  this  controversy  into  other  fields, 
but  in  the  province  which  it  has  made  its  own  the  Society  protests 
against  the  futile  assumption  that  the  progress  of  the  poor  can  be  ad- 
vanced by  inducing  them  to  rely  on  the  common  property  which  can 
be  derived  from  the  voluntary  benefactions  of  the  rich,  or  from  the 
enforced  contributions  of  the  taxpayer. 

The  Society  has,  however,  taken  up  no  doctrinaire  position;  its  sub- 
ject-matter is  the  charitable  effort  of  the  community  at  large,  and  if  it 
can  be  shown  that  there  is  no  adequate  provision  made  for  a  certain 
class,  the  Society,  as  in  the  recent  report  on  the  condition  of  the  feeble- 
minded and  epileptic,  is  ready  to  advocate  an  extension  of  charitable 
effort.  In  the  case  cited  a  certain  form  of  co-operation  between  the 
Poor  Law  and  voluntary  effort  is  recommended.  It  is  suggested  that 
charitable  agencies  shall  establish  and  manage  the  necessary  institutions 
for  these  unfortunates,  and  that  the  Guardians  shall  be  permitted  to 
send  patients  there  and  pay  for  them  out  of  the  rates.  Under  certain 
restrictions  this  form  of  co-operation  already  exists^  but  I  think  I  am 
right  in  saying,  that  in  every  instance  the  persons  in  whose  favor  this 
exceptional  provision  is  made  are,  so  to  speak,  marked  out  and  .sepa- 
rated from  the  rest  of  the  community  automatically  by  what  in  another 
connection  is  spoken  of  as  the  "act  of  God  or  the  malice  of  the  Queen's 
enemies." 

By  reason  of  this  condition,  it  is  obvious  that  we  get  rid  of  some  very 
familiar  difficulties  in  poor  law  administration;  the  capricious  discrimi- 
nation of  Guardians  and  the  rankling  feeling  of  injustice  to  which  it 
gives  rise;  and,  secondly,  that  deterioration  of  character  which  results 
when  the  poor  are  tempted,  as  they  are  by  outdoor  relief,  to  qualify 
themselves  for  pauperism  by  presenting  themselves  in  a  real  or  feigned 
condition  of  destitution.  It  is  the  absence  of  these  dangers  that  war- 
rants our  committee  in  urging  that  from  one  source  or  another  ample 
provision  should  be  made  for  this  class. 

Let  us  go  a  step  further,  and  use  this  principle  as  a  dividing  line 
between  two  classes  of  pauperism: — 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  293 

(i)  Those  who  become  paupers  by  fulfilling  or  accepting  an  automatic 
test,  (^a)  Those  afflicted  by  some  congenital  disabling  disease,  c.  g.  epi- 
lepsy, deficient  intellect;  (f>)  those  who  accept  in  some  shape  or  another 
the  workhouse  test. 

(2)  Those  who  are  selected  arbitrarily  by  Guardians  for  outdoor 
relief,  and  who  in  many  cases  (it  is  impossible  to  say  how  many)  have 
been  brought  to  their  present  condition  by  the  attraction  of  a  mainte- 
nance to  be  obtained  without  effort. 

With  regard  to  the  first  class  of  paupers — those  determined  by  an 
automatic  test — there  is  a  very  large  field  for  the  work  of  charitable 
volunteers.  As  recommended,  charitable  bodies  may  establish  and 
manage  institutions  to  which  paupers  may  be  sent.  Volunteers  may 
with  great  advantage  visit  the  poor  law  institutions,  schools,  infir- 
maries, workhouses;  may  organize  employment  for  the  old  and  infirm 
on  the  lines  of  the  Brabazon  experiment;  may  take  steps  to  help  inmates 
of  the  workhouse  to  make  a  new  start  in  life;  may  by  judicious  interpo- 
sition save  young  people  from  lives  of  pauperism;  and  do  a  variety  of 
kindly  actions  which  it  is  impossible  to  enumerate. 

Here  the  Poor  Law  and  charitable  agencies  combine  to  assist  the  same 
person,  and  for  the  sake  of  clearness,  I  will  term  this  form  of  action 
co-operation  proper. 

A  totally  different  account,  and  a  totally  different  recommendation, 
is  to  be  given  in  regard  to  the  second  class  of  paupers. 

Those  who  have  paid  most  attention  to  the  question  condemn  the 
state  of  the  law  which  permits  a  man  to  receive  from  the  rates  an  addi- 
tion to  his  income  to  be  used  in  exactly  the  same  way  as  a  similar  sum 
derived  from  wages  or  savings,  on  the  sole  condition  that  he  can  suc- 
ceed in  persuading  Guardians  that  he  is  destitute.  It  has  been  shown 
over  and  over  again  that  relief  given  under  these  conditions  is  rarely 
adequate  and  is  always  demoralizing. 

Those,  therefore,  who  wish  well  to  the  poor  are  anxious  to  reduce  the 
evil  results  of  the  present  law  to  the  smallest  dimensions.  Their  recom- 
mendation is  simple.  They  say  to  Guardians,  cease  to  give  this  demora- 
lizing form  of  relief,  and  allow  such  relief  as  maybe  required  by  people 
at  their  own  homes  to  be  administered  by  voluntary  agencies. 

By  this  division  of  labor  there  will  result,  they  argue,  a  great  diminu- 
tion in  the  burden  borne  by  the  Poor  Law,  and  a  great  diminution  also 
in  the  burden  borne  by  charitable  institutions,  for  a  third  agency  will  be 
called  into  existence,  viz:  the  successful  effort  of  the  poor  themselves. 


294        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

If  these  expectations  are  realized,  if  by  this  policy  sickness,  old  age, 
premature  death,  and  the  ordinary  risks  of  life  are  more  and  more  pro- 
vided against  by  the  provident  associations  of  the  poor,  it  is  obvious  that 
the  demand  both  on  compulsory  and  voluntary  funds  will  be  a  dimin- 
ishing tpantity. 

For  this  reason  there  is  a  disposition  to  argue  by  those  who  hold  this 
view  that  we  should  not  commit  ourselves  irrevocably  to  the  proposition 
that  the  feeble-minded  and  the  imbecile  should  be  relegated  to  the  care 
of  the  law  and  made  a  burden  on  ratepayers;  for  it  is  maintained  that 
in  the  future — in  the  not  very  distant  future,  let  us  hope — the  ordinary 
risks  of  life  will  be  so  fully  provided  for  by  the  thrift  associations  of  the 
poor  that  the  contributions  of  the  charitable  will  be  set  free  for  extra- 
ordinary occasions  of  distress  such  as  arise  from  epilepsy  and  deficient 
intellect. 

This  condition  of  affairs  has  not  arrived.  It  is  my  task  to  show  that 
this  prospect  of  reformation  is  not  Utopian.  I  will  endeavor  to  do 
this  by  a  brief  reference  to  the  past  and  present  history  of  the  subject. 
And  at  the  outset  let  me  insist  on  one  point  which  I  believe  to  be  the 
governing  truth  in  all  this  controversy.  Reformation  will  not  come  from 
any  gerrymandering  of  the  Poor  Law  or  charitable  funds,  but  from  the 
development  of  the  poor  man's  capacity  for  a  life  of  independence.  All 
our  administration  of  legal  and  voluntary  relief  should  be  made  sub- 
servient to  this  idea,  provided  always  that  adequate  relief  is  not  thereby 
withheld. 

The  most  serious  crisis  of  poor  law  administration  which  this  coun- 
try has  ever  experienced  was  that  previous  to  the  Poor  Law  Amendment 
Act  of  1834.  The  idea  that  an  able-bodied  working  man  could  sup- 
port himself  and  his  family  was  regarded  as  chimerical.  Every  man 
received  an  allowance  from  the  rates  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
his  children,  and  the  employer  obtained  his  services  at  a  nominal  wage. 
The  single  man  or  the  man  without  a  family  was  not  employed,  because 
the  farmer  or  manufacturer  had  to  pay  his  wages  in  full.  The  poorer 
classes  of  the  country  lived  in  a  state  of  discontent  and  open  rebellion; 
land  went  out  of  cultivation  because  its  produce  was  not  sufficient  to 
pay  the  rate.  The  country  was  brought  to  the  verge  of  ruin.  The 
Poor  Law  Commissioners  inquired  and  reported  on  this  state  of  affairs. 
Now  what  was  their  recommendation  ?  It  was  simple  enough.  Stop, 
they  said,  all  outdoor  relief  to  the  able-bodied.  Throw  the  poor  man 
absolutely  on  his  own  resources,  and  do  not  fear  for  the  result.      Their 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  295 

advice  was  carried  into  legislation,  and,  as  all  now  admit,  with  the 
happiest  results.  It  is  hardly  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  we  have  got 
rid  of  the  able-bodied  pauper — or  to  be  more  correct,  and  the  distinc- 
tion is  important,  we  have  got  rid  of  those  economic  conditions  which 
condemned  the  able-bodied  man  of  that  day  to  pauperism  and  de- 
pendence. Poor  law  reform  does  not  war  against  the  person  of  the 
pauper,  but  against  the  economic  conditions  which  arise  when  the 
poor  are  encouraged  to  look  to  rates  rather  than  to  wages  and  sav- 
ings for  their  maintenance,  and  against  the  formation  of  the  parasitic 
habits  of  dependence,  the  necessary  correlatives  to  this  economic  con- 
dition. 

But  to  return.  We  have  got  rid  of  able-bodied  pauperism,  but  we 
are  still  struggling  with  a  pauperism  that  is  not  able-bodied. 

Let  us  review  the  situation  briefly.  Throughout  a  great  part  of  the 
country,  more  especially  in  the  rural  districts,  there  is  still  a  perfectly 
unbroken  tradition  of  pauperism  handed  on  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion. It  is  assumed  that  the  laborer  must  become  a  pauper  in  his  old 
age,  in  his  time  of  temporary  sickness;  that  his  widow  and  children 
must  at  his  death  become  pensioners  on  the  rates. 

Is  it  possible  for  us,  without  inflicting  undue  hardship,  to  break  this 
tradition?  And  if  so,  how  is  it  to  be  done?  Time  does  not  permit 
me  to  elaborate  all  the  detail  of  the  argument.  I  will  state,  how- 
ever, in  baldest  outline  the  policy  which  I  think  has  now  become  an 
integral  part  of  the  theory  of  those  who  support  the  Charity  Organiza- 
tion Society. 

In  the  first  place,  we  rely  with  absolute  confidence  on  the  precedent  of 
the  abolition  of  able-bodied  pauperism.  The  only  way  in  which  the  legis- 
lator or  the  administrator  can  promote  the  reduction  of  pauperism  is  by 
abolishing  or  restricting  the  legal  endowments  provided  for  pauperism. 
The  country  can  have,  there  is  no  doubt  of  it,  exactly  as  many  paupers 
as  it  chooses  to  pay  for.  Abolish  or  restrict  that  endowment,  or  the 
more  acceptable  form  of  that  endowment — I  mean,  of  course,  outdoor 
relief — and  new  agencies  are  called  into  activity,  man's  natural  capacity 
for  independence,  the  natural  ties  of  relationship  and  friendship;  and 
under  this  head  I  would  include  private  as  distinguished  from  public 
charity,  for  private  charity  in  any  real  sense  of  the  word  is  not  a  virtue 
practised  toward  a  stranger,  but  arises  out  of  the  natural  affection  of 
neighbors,  and  proceeds  on  the  Gospel  rule  of  seventy  times  seven 
rather  than  on  any  pedantic  weighing  of  merit  and  demerit.  By  the 
action  of  these  forces  pauperism,  so  to  speak,  evaporates. 


296         INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

I  insist  on  this  aspect  of  the  question,  for  I  think  it  is  apt  to  be  over- 
looked. The  abolition  or  limitation  of  outdoor  relief  is  urged  not 
merely  because  outdoor  relief  can  be  best  administered  by  voluntary 
agencies,  but  because  its  abolition  restores  men  to  their  independence. 

There  are  many  subsidiary  reasons  why  it  is  desirable  that  the  Poor 
Law  should  confine  itself  to  giving  relief  within  the  walls  of  some  one 
of  its  institutions,  and  leave  the  relief  to  be  given  at  people's  homes  to 
voluntary  agencies;  but  I  venture  to  think  that  the  reason  I  have  given 
is  the  paramount  reason,  viz.,  that  this  policy  more  than  any  other  calls 
out  the  successful  effort  of  the  poor  themselves.  Every  other  considera- 
tion, though  some  of  them  are  of  great  force,  is  relatively  trivial. 

Now  let  me  meet  the  objection  which  is  at  once  raised  to  this.  It  is 
often  said,  but  I  think  only  by  persons  who  have  no  practical  experience 
of  such  matters,  that  there  is  no  difference  brought  about  by  transferring 
the  duty  of  giving  outdoor  relief  from  a  legal  to  a  voluntary  agency. 
Others  ask  what  is  the  necessity  for  this.  If  we  could  secure  really 
good  Boards  of  Guardians,  Mr.  Marshall  has  argued,  they  would  admin- 
ister out-relief  with  quite  as  much  discrimination  as  any  charity  organi- 
zation society.  This  argument  evades  the  whole  point  of  our  conten- 
tion. We  do  not  rely  on  the  greater  discrimination  used  by  a  volun- 
tary agency.  We  rely  on  a  much  more  efficacious  protection,  viz.,  the 
greater  moderation  of  the  poor  in  making  claim  on  a  charitable  fund. 

Legal  relief  seems  to  be,  indeed  is,  the  right  of  all  the  poor  equally. 
All  are  "poor,"  that  is,  have  an  insufficient  income;  application  for 
relief,  therefore,  is  made  by  all,  or  at  all  events  by  many  more  than  will 
apply  to  a  charitable  fund. 

The  success  which  has  attended  the  administration  of  the  Poor  Law 
in  Bradfield  and  Whitechapel  is  often,  and  no  doubt  with  justice, 
ascribed  to  administration,  but  it  can  never  sufficiently  be  insisted  on 
that  the  action  of  the  Poor  Law  is  purely  negative — it  is  restriction, 
abolition;  the  positive  element  in  the  reform  is  the  quickened  develop- 
ment of  the  spirit  of  independence  among  the  poor  themselves.  This 
quickened  development  again  rests  on  the  fact  (too  often  ignored  by 
the  mere  theorist)  that  the  moderation  of  the  poor  is  such  that  they  will 
not  apply  for  indoor  relief,  or  for  relief  from  the  funds  of  a  charitable 
society,  if  those  funds  are  protected  by  a  very  slight  exercise  of  discrim- 
ination and  inquiry. 

I  am  not  merely  theorizing  as  to  the  existence  of  this  moderation  of 
the  poor  in  jjressing  demands  on  charitable  funds,  as  the  following  facts 


I 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  297 

will  show.  In  St.  George's  East  the  outdoor  relief  in  187 1  was  ^8,916; 
in  1874,  ^£4,391-  It  is  now  a  merely  nominal  sum,  and  the  local 
Charity  Organization  Society  is  giving  relief  at  the  rate  of  about  ^600 
per  annum.  The  clergy  of  the  union  are  firm  supporters  of  the  Society, 
and  the  indiscriminate  almsgiving  is  probably  less  now  than  in  the  old 
out-relief  days.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  moreover,  the  committee  does  not 
refuse  many  cases.  The  trade  of  the  union  is,  on  the  whole,  less 
prosperous  than  in  old  days,  owing  to  the  decline  of  the  shipbuilding 
and  sugar  industries.  To  what,  then,  are  we  to  attribute  the  fact  that 
the  Society  (which  I  may  add,  has  never  refused  a  case  for  lack  of 
funds)  has  had  to  meet  a  demand  so  comparatively  slight?  They  have 
never  been  so  absurd  as  to  pretend  that  the  diminution  is  due  solely  to 
their  greater  industry  in  investigation  and  discrimination.  Far  from 
it.    It  is  due  much  more  to  what  I  have  termed  the  moderation  of  the  poof. 

It  has  frequently  been  pointed  out  that  it  is  necessary  to  restrain  the 
acceptance  of  poor  law  relief  by  deterrent  conditions.  There  is 
something  repugnant  to  our  feelings  in  this.  I  would  have  you  observe, 
therefore,  that  by  relegating  the  duty  of  g'iving  relief  to  people 
at  their  homes  to  voluntary  agencies,  the  condition  of  deterrence  is 
replaced  effectually  by  a  much  more  honorable  and  salutary  safeguard. 
I  mean  the  moderation  of  the  poor  themselves. 

The  offer  of  institutional  relief,  to  which  legal  relief  is  by  our  pro- 
posal confined,  will  be  said  by  some  to  be  inhumanly  deterrent.  Such 
an  opinion  requires  some  qualification.  It  is  urged  by  the  Poor  Law 
Commissioners,  and  ratified  by  common  sense,  that  the  condition  of 
the  pauper  ought  to  be  inferior  to  that  of  the  poorest  independent 
laborer.  Now,  the  condition  of  the  poorest  independent  laborer  is 
poor  indeed,  and  attempts  to  maintain  the  pauper  at  his  own  home  in 
a  still  inferior  condition  result  inevitably  in  inadequacy  of  relief. 
Juries  occasionally  find  verdicts  of  starvation  at  inquests  on  the  death 
of  persons  in  receipt  of  outdoor  relief.  Such  a  state  of  things  cannot 
be  thought  satisfactory,  and  it  is  aggravated  by  the  feeling  of  injustice 
which  arises  because  all  are  not  treated  alike.  There  is  no  union  where 
everyone  gets  outdoor  relief.  Some  are  everywhere  refused.  The 
inferiority  of  the  pauper's  condition  ought  not,  on  grounds  of  humanity, 
to  be  brought  about  by  inadequacy  of  relief.  What  is  the  alternative? 
Nothing  more  than  this,  that  the  same  measure  should  be  given  to  all, 
namely,  carefully  managed  and  adequate  relief  within  the  walls  of 
some  poor   law  establishment.      \Vhen  the  Irish  Poor  Law  was  created 


298        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

it  was  feared  that  the  scale  of  maintenance  in  the  workhouse,  which, 
relatively  to  the  standard  of  living  of  the  Irish  peasant,  was  ample, 
even  luxurious,  would  attract  too  many  applicants.  Those  who  under- 
stood the  question  insisted  that  there  was  no  fear  of  that.  The  result 
proved  that  they  were  right.  The  dilemma  is  a  simple  enough  one. 
It  is  desirable  that  the  condition  of  the  pauper  shall  be  inferior  to  that 
of  the  poorest  independent  laborer.  Will  you  effect  this  by  giving 
inadequate  relief  and  half  starving  the  pauper  at  his  own  home?  Or 
will  you  not  rather  import  the  necessary  element  of  inferiority  into  the 
lot  of  the  pauper  by  attaching  conditions  of  restraint  and  discipline  to 
an  adequate  and,  on  the  whole,  comfortable  maintenance?  On  grounds 
of  humanity,  quite  apart  from  the  fatal  influence  of  outdoor  relief  on 
the  thrifty  habits  of  the  people,  can  we  have  any  doubt  as  to  the  best 
choice  in  this  dilemma  ? 

There  is  no  wish  to  pursue  the  pauper  with  penalties.  His  destitution 
arises  from  the  fact  that  from  one  reason  or  another  he  has  failed  to  fit 
himself  into  the  framework  of  free  economic  society.  If  there  are 
causes  which  have  brought  him  to  this  pass,  removable  without  injustice 
to  others  by  legislation,  by  all  means  let  them  be  removed.  In  the 
meantime  his  condition  is  a  misfortune;  no  legislation  can  reverse  this 
verdict  and  convert  failure  into  success.  Remedies  are  only  a  choice 
of  evils.  Civilized  society  will  not  permit  the  unfit  to  perish,  nor  will 
it  ruin  itself  by  permanently  fostering  failure  by  giving  it  all  the  re- 
wards of  success.  In  a  sound  administration  of  the  Poor  Law  it  takes 
a  third  course.  It  gives  a  maintenance  to  failure  more  adequate  than 
that  which  can  be  won  by  those  who  live  on  the  border  line  between 
success  and  failure;  but  in  order  that  this  shall  not  be  a  premium  on 
failure,  it  imposes  conditions  of  discipline  and  restraint. 

To  return,  however,  to  our  proposed  division  of  labor.  Although  it 
is  true  that  the  moderation  of  the  poor  and  their  latent  capacity  for  inde- 
pendence will  contribute  largely  to  the  success  of  this  policy,  still  it  is 
necessary  that  schemes  of  public  charity  should  be  conducted  with  care 
and  discrimination.     I  can  best  explain  my  meaning  by  an  illustration. 

The  heaviest  year  our  Society  ever  had  in  St.  George's  was  1886,  the 
year  of  the  Mansion  House  Fund.  This  fund  was  raised  amid  great 
excitement  and  boundless  advertisement.  The  idea  of  relief  was  in  the 
air,  and  though  some  ^2,000  was  expended  in  the  district  by  the 
Mansion  House  Relief  Committee  the  only  result  was  that  a  larger 
demand  was  made  on  other  agencies.      The  moderation  of  the  poor  was 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  299 

in  this  instance,  and  by  the  means  above  mentioned,  broken  down. 
The  fund  was  happily  only  temporary,  but  its  influence  while  it  lasted 
was  very  similar  to  the  state  of  things  brought  about  by  a  permanent 
system  of  lavish  out-relief.  The  poor  were  kept  in  a  state  of  speculative 
ferment,  and  during  the  sittings  of  the  Mansion  House  Relief  Com- 
mittee application  for  relief  was  made  to  it  on  behalf  of  about  one- 
third  of  the  whole  population. 

Public  charities  of  a  permanent  character  managed  in  this  manner 
would,  without  doubt,  be  very  nearly  as  mischievous  as  outdoor  relief. 
Public  charity,  therefore,  should  be  administered  without  ostentation, 
and  under  the  safeguard  of  full  and  deliberate  investigation.  In  this 
way,  and  in  this  way  only,  can  the  whole  benefit  of  the  policy  now 
advocated  be  secured.  I  use  the  term  public  charity  advisedly,  for  the 
action  of  private  charity,  as  already  indicated,  is  not  a  matter  to  be 
controlled  by  organization  societies,  whose  work  lies  mainly  with  funds 
arising  from  endowments  and  subscriptions,  and  from  the  donations 
of  the  rich  for  persons  unknown  to  them.  Private  charity,  in  the  strict 
sense  in  which  I  use  the  term,  is  liable  to  error.  A  father  may  be  over- 
indulgent  to  a  son,  and  a  friend,  by  misplaced  liberality,  may  confirm 
a  friend  in  unprofitable  habits;  but  this  is  a  form  of  error  not  to  be 
dealt  with  ex  cathedra  by  any  organ  of  public  criticism. 

The  co-operation  of  the  Poor  Law  with  charitable  agencies,  as  carried 
out  in  three  of  the  poorest  unions  of  London — Stepney,  Whitechapel, 
and  St.  George's — was  commended  in  the  report  of  the  Select  Commit- 
tee of  the  House  of  Lords,  and  the  experiment  is  often  quoted  in  poor 
law  discussions.  There  is,  however,  one  misapprehension  on  the  sub- 
ject which  I  should  like  to  correct.  The  reform  of  the  Poor  Law  in  these 
three  unions  was  begun  and  carried  out  before  our  system  of  organized 
charity  had  taken  root  in  the  soil.  The  poor  law  reform  in  White- 
chapel and  Stepney  began  in  1870-71.  The  first  report  of  the  Tower 
Hamlets  Pension  Committee  is  dated  1878.  When  I  first  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Charity  Organization  Society  in  1879  the  Whitechapel  and 
St. George's  committees  had  a  common  office,  and  at  an  earlier  date  there 
was  only  one  committee  for  the  whole  of  the  Tower  Hamlets,  which  used 
to  meet  in  a  little  room   in   Philpot    Street*.     We  have  been  enabled 

♦The  following  note  has  been  supplied  to  me  by  Mr.  Loch  with  reference  to 
the  early  history  of  the  society  in  the  East  End: — 

The  East  End  Inquiry  (  ommittee  was  opened  in  February,  1871,  and  continued 
to  be  the  only  office  for  live  of  the  East  London    poor   law  divisions  (viz.,  White- 


300        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

to  extend  and  consolidate  our  operations  because  the  Poor  Law  Guar- 
dians have  taken  the  first  step  and  confined  themselves  to  giving  indoor 
relief  only. 

It  is  impossible  to  make  any  subdivision  of  labor  till  the  more  power- 
ful party  to  the  agreement  has  become  satisfied  of  its  necessity.  I 
argue,  therefore,  that  Poor  Law  Guardians  must  take  the  first  step, 
under  a  profound  conviction  that  whether  there  be  an  organization  of 
charitable  agencies,  or  whether  there  be  none,  they  have  no  right  to  with- 
hold from  their  union  the  benefit  of  sound  administration.  As  matter 
of  fact  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  if  Guardians  have  the  courage  and 
disinterestedness  to  face  this  reform,  there  will  also  be  found  among 
them  men  of  sufficient  position  and  energy  to  organize  the  charitable 
agencies;  but  I  confess  there  seems  to  me  to  be  very  little  to  be  done 
till  the  policy  of  Guardians  is  animated  by  a  profound  conviction  of  the 
necessity  for  reform. 

At  the  same  time,  though  I  must  insist  that  the  initiative  lies  with 
the  poor  law  authorities,  I  think  that  our  organization  of  charity  has 
been  of  service  in  strengthening  the  party  of  reform  on  the  various 
boards.  Guardians  are  able  to  say  that  provision  has  been  made  to 
deal  with  exceptional  cases,  and  they  have  not  been  deterred  from  con- 
tinuing to  the  union  the  enormous  benefit  of  a  sound  administration. 
They  have  never  (and  this  is  the  danger  to  which  I  desire  to  draw  atten- 
tion) asserted  a  right  to  choose  our  applicants  for  us,  or  to  override 
our  decisions.  The  two  bodies  are  entirely  distinct,  and  there  is  no 
publicly  ratified  compact  between  us.  The  only  bond  between  us  is 
that  we  both  believe  that  by  the  tactics  pursued  the  poor  are  learning 
to  do  without  the  help  of  either  of  us. 

The  proposal  of  Professor  Marshall,  that  we  should  be  recognized  as 
a  part  of  the  legal  machinery  of  the  Poor  Law,  would,  therefore,  be 
fatal  to  our  usefulness.  The  co-operation  which  we  advocate  is,  there- 
fore, more  a  division  of  labor  than  co-operation  pure  and  simple.  It 
consists  in  this,  that  the  Poor  Law  should  confine  itself  to  institutional 
relief;  as  a  result  the  greater  part  of  the  outdoor  legal  relief  now  given 

chapel,  St.George-in-the-East,  Poplar,  Stepney,  Mile  End  Old  Town),  till  Feb- 
ruary, 1873,  when  the  joint  Whitechapel  and  St.George-in-the-East  Committee 
and  the  Poplar  Committee  were  formed.  The  Fast  End  Inquiry  Committee 
became  in  April,  1873,  the  Stepney  and  Mile  End  Old  ToAvn  Inquiry  Committee. 
In  March,  1875,  separate  committees  were  formed  at  Whitechapel  and  St.George- 
in-the-East,  and  they  continued  to  make  use  of  only  one  office.  In  April,  1875, 
separate  committees  were  formed  in  Stepney  and  Mile  End  Old  Town.  The 
East  End  Finance  Committee  was  formed  early  in  1874. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  3OI 

will  be  rendered  unnecessary  by  reason  of  the  increased  independence 
of  the  poor,  and  the  remainder  is  so  small  in  amount  that  it  can  be 
dealt  with  by  voluntary  charity. 

The  administration  of  the  Poor  Law  and  of  voluntary  relief  should  go 
hand  in  hand,  animated  by  the  common  purpose  not  only  to  relieve 
adequately,  but,  as  it  has  been  well  put,  to  make  the  influence  of  our 
relief  system  centrifugal,  and  not  centripetal.  When  this  purpose  is  not 
present  in  the  minds  of  administrators,  the  most  senseless  and  disastrous 
competition  between  the  Poor  Law  and  charity  is  set  up. 

The  City  of  London  is  a  contiguous  .union  to  VVhitechapel.  At  the 
time  of  the  Lords  Select  Committee  the  pauperism  of  Whitechapel  was 
16  per  1,000.  In  the  City  it  was  62  per  1,000.  Some  years  ago  I  made 
some  remarks  on  this  contrast,  and  I  was  taken  to  task  by  an  influential 
city  paper.  This  gentlemen,  it  was  said,  is  very  badly  informed  about 
the  City  Union.  "Many  poor  persons  have  come  into  the  city  for  the 
small  charities  which  have  hitherto  been  obtainable  in  different  parishes, 
and  it  is  hardly  fair  to  compare  the  City"  with  other  places.  How  far 
this  is  an  exculpation  of  the  City  Guardians  I  do  not  stop  to  inquire,  but 
it  does  confirm  my  view  that  where  no  definite  division  of  labor  exists, 
the  larger  and  more  numerous  the  charitable  institutions,  the  greater  the 
burden  on  the  Poor  Law.  In  the  chaos  here  delineated  both  legal  and 
voluntary  relief  act  with  an  overpowering  centripetal  force,  so  much  so 
that  their  warmest  defenders  can  only  excuse  the  authorities  by  saying, 
"What  can  they  do?     The  place  is  a  nursery  for  paupers." 

Let  me  say  a  few  words  on  the  experience  of  those  country  unions  which 
have  reformed  their  Poor  Law  administration.  In  none  of  them,  as  far 
as  I  know,  has  there  been  established  any  charity  organization  society. 
The  contrary  is  often  asserted,  but  without  foundation.  A  charity 
organization  is  very  desirable,  nay,  even  necessary,  where  there  are  a 
number  of  public  charities  and  a  large  mass  of  population,  but  there  is 
much  less  necessity  for  it  in  a  sparsely  populated  rural  district.  The 
squire  and  the  parson  and  the  ladies  bountiful  of  the  neighborhood 
ought  to  exercise  their  common  sense,  and  if  there  be  many  of  them, 
there  is  no  reason  why,  if  they  choose,  they  should  not  meet  in  a  com- 
mittee, but  neither  at  Bradfield  nor  at  Brixworth  has  this  been  found 
practicable  or  desirable.  The  late  Mr.  Bland-Garland  told  a  friend  of 
mine,  who  has  repeated  it  to  me,  that  when  he  became  responsible  for 
the  administration  at  Bradfield  he  put  aside  a  certain  annual  sum — 
^100  I  think — which  he  was  prepared  to  give  away,  in  order  to  make 


302        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

the  transition  to  a  stricter  system  more  easy.  He  added  that  in  the 
first  year  the  demand  on  his  purse  did  not  reach  half  that  sum,  and 
that  in  subsequent  years  it  became  gradually  less. 

Very  similar  is  the  information  given  to  me  by  Mr.  Bury,  Chairman 
of  the  Brixworth  Board.  He  has  from  his  own  resources,  and  from 
moneys  entrusted  to  him,  a  small  fund  which  he  has  used  much  in  the 
way  described  by  Mr.  Bland-Garland.  He  is  definitely  of  opinion 
that  he  would  much  rather  not  have  any  organization  society.  It  is 
not — there,  at  all  events — necessary.  I  do  not  think  I  misinterpret 
Mr.  Bury's  opinion  if  I  say  that  he  does  not  regard  the  reform  of 
administration  at  Brixworth  as  a  mere  transition  from  dependence  on 
poor  law  relief  to  a  dependence  on  charitable  funds,  but  rather  that 
under  the  administration  for  which  he  is  responsible  the  poor  are  suc- 
cessfully learning  to  achieve  an  absolute  independence  for  themselves. 
This  desirable  result  would  be  endangered  if  a  charitable  committee 
were  established  permanently  and  prominently  before  the  eyes  of  the 
people.  I  mention  Mr.  Bury's  opinion  and  experience — even  though 
it  may  seem  to  show  that  co-operation  with  charity  is  not  necessary — 
because  it  emphasizes  what  I  have  already  stated,  viz.,  that  the  positive 
element  of  reform  in  all  this  matter  is  neither  charity  nor  the  Poor  Law, 
but  the  spirit  of  independence  in  the  people  themselves. 

In  the  foregoing  remarks  I  have  advisedly  avoided  going  into  detail. 
The  first  step  in  reform  is  to  convince  the  majority  of  a  board  of  guar- 
dians of  the  necessity  of  reform.  The  details  of  the  methods  taken  to 
give  effect  to  the  principle  must  differ  widely  in  each  district  and  with 
each  board.  It  would  be  very  desirable,  I  think,  that  the  Society 
should  publish  one  or  two  statements  similar  to  the  late  Mr.  Bland- 
Garland's  paper,  '<From  Pauperism  to  Manliness."  It  would  be  inte- 
resting to  have  an  account  of  the  success  of  the  cross-visiting  system 
pursued  in  Manchester;  of  the  method  of  reducing  pauperism  by  rigid 
investigation,  as  in  Paddington;  of  the  successful  establishment  of  a 
provident  medical  society  covering  the  whole  union,  as  at  Milton  in 
Kent;  of  the  history  of  efforts  to  affiliate  provident  societies  to  hos- 
pitals, with  a  view  of  making  our  hospital  system  the  auxiliary,  and 
not  the  hostile  competitor,  of  friendly  societies  and  doctors'  clubs;  of 
the  efforts  for  the  improvement  and  better  management  of  the  indoor 
establishments  in  Whitechapel  and  elsewhere,  and  a  thousand  other 
matters  which  will   readily  occur   to   you  all.      I  hope  this  meeting  may 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  303 

encourage  both  the  London  and  the  provincial  societies  in  collecting 
and  circulating  in  a  readable  form  information  on  such  points. 

If  time  had  permitted,  I  should  have  liked  to  say  a  good  deal  on  these 
matters  of  detail,  but  I  hope  I  shall  not  be  blamed  for  confining  myself 
on  this  occasion  to  the  larger  aspect  of  the  question.  I  have  presented 
to  you  an  ambitious  programme — the  reformation  of  public  opinion  on 
this  \^hole  question. 

I  do  not  disguise  from  you  the  difficulties,  but  to  some  minds  its 
attractiveness  is  its  difficulty,  the  splendid  opportunity  that  it  offers  for 
being  unpopular  in  a  good  cause.  My  reading  of  poor  law  literature 
has  discovered  to  me  one  little  bit  of  sentiment.  It  is  where  Sir  G. 
Nicholls,  to  whom  as  much  as  to  any  man  the  country  owes  the  reform 
of  1834,  relates  how,  on  his  return  to  his  old  home  at  Southwell,  he 
was  met  in  the  market  place  by  a  party  of  laborers,  who  shook  him 
warmly  by  the  hand  and  thanked  him  for  having  been  their  best  friend. 
In  a  momentary  lapse  from  the  dry,  unemotional  language  of  a  public 
official,  he  bids  us  imagine  how  "gratifying"  the  incident  must  have 
been  to  one  whose  conscientious  discharge  of  his  duty  had  for  years 
made  him  one  of  the  best  abused  men  in  England. 

There  is  one  element  of  encouragement  which  I  think  worth  men- 
tion, there  is  no  subject  in  which  there  is  a  more  complete  unanimity  of 
opinion  among  persons  who  have  made  any  intelligent  study  of  the 
question.  Among  the  recognized  authorities  there  is  absolute  con- 
formity. 'I'he  enemy  in  this  case  is  ignorance  and  inexperience.  There 
has  been  a  disposition  in  the  past  to  relegate  this  matter  to  the  "loose 
ends"  of  society — to  the  unemployed  busybody  of  the  leisure  class. 
But  the  question  is  becoming  urgent — it  is  becoming  a  question  for 
statesmen — and  with  the  hour  let  us  hope  there  will  come  the  men  of 
courage  and  insight.  Hitherto  the  politician  has  not  helped  us  much, 
but  rather  the  reverse.  Legislation  of  various  kinds  is  proposed,  most 
of  it  of  a  mischievous  character;  but  the  debate  is  only  just  begun,  and 
those  who  have  for  years  made  study  of  this  question  must  not  be  silent. 
I  confidently  believe  that  we  shall  be  able  to  defeat  the  pessimism  of 
those  who  assume  that  inadequacy  of  wages  and  sjjendthrift  habits  are 
ineradicable  incidents  in  the  life  of  the  laborer.  We,  at  all  events, 
cannot  admit  that  the  only  solution  of  this  question  is  to  be  found  in 
conferring  easy  terms  of  pauperism  on  those  who  were  l)orn  for  inde- 
pendence and  freedom. 


304        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


MANCHESTER. 

POOR    LAW    RELIEF  AND  CHARITY  ORGANIZATION   IN    AN 

INDUSTRIAL  TOWN. 

BY    ALEXANDER    McDOUGALL,    J.    P.,    VICE-CHAIRMAN    OF    THE 
MANCHESTER    BOARD    OF    GUARDIANS. 

The  consideration  of  the  development  of  charity  organization  in  a 
town  or  district  must  be  based  upon  knowledge  of  what  is  being  done 
within  it  by  the  poor  law  authorities  and  by  voluntary  associations  for 
the  relief  and  mitigation  of  distress. 

The  city  of  Manchester  has  a  population  of  about  505,000;  the  Poor 
Law  administration  is  carried  out  by  three  separate  Boards  of  Guar- 
dians, but  as  two  of  them  (the  Chorlton  Union  and  the  Prestwich  Union) 
extend  also  over  rural  districts  outside  the  city,  it  will  suffice  to  describe 
briefly  the  methods  of  the  board  whose  district  lies  entirely  within  the 
boundaries  and  includes  the  older  portion  of  the  town.  It  is  officially 
known  as  the  Manchester  Board  of  Guardians,  and  acts  for  the  town- 
ship of  Manchester  containing  a  population  of  about  145,000,  with  a 
density  of  91  persons  to  the  acre.  Within  the  township  are  the  chief 
portions  of  the  commercial  buildings — the  warehouses  and  offices  and  also 
some  of  the  manufacturing  establishments.  The  majority  of  the  popu- 
lation are  of  the  operative  class,  living  in  streets  of  cottages,  and  there 
are  many  instances  of  streets  formerly  occupied  by  middle  class  tenants, 
now  inhabited  by  persons  of  the  laboring  class — the  houses  being  sub- 
divided into  tenements.  The  better  houses  of  the  township  are  chiefly 
occupied  by  the  lower  middle  class  and  artisans.  Manchester  stands  in 
close  relation  to  several  large  towns  within  a  radius  of  12  miles,  the 
high  roads  leading  to  them  running  through  populous  places  containing 
factories  and  works  surrounded  by  the  cottages  of  the  operatives. 
Throughout  these  surrounding  districts  a  considerable  number  of  haw- 
kers of  small  articles,  casual  laborers  and  others  pick  up  precarious 
livings.  The  great  majority  of  these  "travellers"  as  they  are  called 
have  their  homes  in  the  township — many  of  them  using  the  lodging 
houses,  of  which  there  are  some  with  as  many  as  400  beds.  It  is  the 
portion  of  the  city  in  which  the  largest  amount  of  poverty  may  be 
expected. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  305 

• 

The  Guardians  have  for  the  last  twenty  years  devoted  very  much  time 
and  consideration  to  methods  of  administration  of  both  indoor  and 
outdoor  relief,  striving  as  far  as  possible  to  meet  the  real  needs  of  all 
suitable  applicants,  and  yet  not  to  attract  from  labor  and  habits  of  self- 
support  any  of  the  large  numbers  on  the  borders  of  pauperism.  Whilst 
they  have  not  abolished  out-relief,  they  have  reduced  it  to  narrow  limits 
without  adding  materially  to  the  number  of  indoor  paupers.  The 
change  has  been  brought  about  by  the  adoption  of  the  following  stand- 
ing order. 

STANDING    ORDER. 

"  Outdoor  Relief  shall  not  be  granted  or  allowed  by  the  Relief  Com- 
mittees (except  in  case  of  sickness)  to  applicants  of  any  of  the  follow- 
ing classes :  — 

"  (rt!).    Single  Able-bodied  Men. 

'^{b}-   Single  Able-bodied  Women. 

"(<r).  Able-bodied  Widows  without  children,  or  having  only  one 
child  to  support. 

"(^).  Married  Women  (with  or  without  families)  whose  husbands, 
having  been  convicted  of  crime,  are  undergoing  a  term  of  imprisonment. 

"(e').  Married  Women  (with  or  without  families)  deserted  by  their 
husbands. 

"(/").  Married  Women  (with  or  without  families)  left  destitute 
through  their  husbands  having  joined  the  militia  and  being  called  up 
for  training. 

"  (^).  Persons  .residing  with  relatives,  where  the  united  income  of 
the  family  is  sufficient  for  the  support  of  all  its  members,  whether  such 
relatives  are  liable  by  law  to  support  the  applicant  or  not." 

The  effect  of  strictness  with  regard  to  outdoor  relief  may  be  seen  by 
comparing  the  average  number  receiving  relief  on  one  day  for  1873  and 
the  average  number  on  one  day  for  the  year  1893. 

OUTDOOR    RELIEF. 

For   the    year   ending    March   29th,    1873,   average   number   of 

persons  receiving  relief  on  one  day  was Si'QS 

For  the  year   ending    March    25th,    1893,  average   number   of 

persons  receiving  relief  on   one  day  was 594 

\it\ng  2.  deciease  oi 2,604 

INDOOR    RELIEF. 

For   the    year  ending   March    29th,    1873,   average   number   of 

persons  receiving  relief  on   one  day  was 2,298 

For   the    year   ending   March   25th,    1893,    average   number   of 

persons  receiving  relief  on   one  day  was 2,718 

l-ieing  an  increase  of 420 

20 


306        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

There  have  been  other  remedial  causes  at  work  to  reduce  pauperism, 
,and  also  some  decrease  of  population  owing  to  public  improvements 
and  erections  of  large  railway  stations  and  warehouses,  but  these  have 
been  counterbalanced  by  the  change  during  the  same  period  which  has 
taken  place  in  the  township  from  the  removal  of  well-to-do  tenants  to 
the  suburbs — the  houses  becoming  occupied  by  the  wage-earning  class. 

This  large  reduction  in  the  number  of  persons  granted  out-relief  has 
not  been  at  the  cost  of  hardship  and  suffering.  Careful  enquiry  has 
failed  to  discover  any  cases  of  necessity  unrelieved  because  of  strict 
adherence  to  the  regulations.  On  the  other  hand,  it  has  raised  the 
respectability  of  out-relief  and  made  really  worthy  persons  less  disin- 
clined to  apply.  The  collateral  results  have  been  most  beneficial ;  the 
character  of  notoriously  pauperized  localities  has  been  changed.  Out- 
relief  readily  granted  causes  groups  of  improvident  persons  to  localize. 
These  nests  of  pauperism  were  soon  broken  up  when  out -relief  became 
restricted  to  exceptional  cases  only. 

For  indoor  relief  purposes  the  workhouses  are  well  arranged.  The 
Guardians  have,  within  the  last  twenty  years,  built  a  very  commodious 
infirmary  and  abolished  all  nursing  of  the  sick  by  paupers.  Medical 
oversight  is  fully  provided  for,  and  the  nursing  is  in  charge  of  a  lady 
superintendent  and  highly  trained  nurses.  There  is  but  little  unwilling- 
ness on  the  part  of  the  sick  poor  to  go  into  the  infirmary;  it  has  become 
popular  even  to  an  extent  not  desired  by  the  Guardians,  as  it  is  a  fact 
that  sick  persons  from  a  distance  are  attracted. 

In  the  workhouses  every  effort  is  made  to  keep  the  inmates  employed, 
but  not  to  raise  the  impression  that  the  work  done  is  something  for 
which  the  Guardians  have  any  desire  to  retain  the  workers  in  the 
house. 

The  children  of  parents  in  the  workhouses,  deserted  children,  and 
some  children  of  widows  receiving  out-relief  are  maintained  and 
educated  in  schools  at  long  distances  from  the  workhouses,  no  pauper 
labor  being  employed  at  the  schools,  so  dissociating  the  children  as 
much  as  possible  from  pauper  influences. 

There  is  very  general  provision  made  for  sickness  and  burial  by 
joining  friendly  societies  and  also  sick  and  burial  clubs.  The  operatives 
largely  avail  themselves  of  such  facilities,  especially  for  burial,  many  of 
the  very  poorest  managing  in  some  way  to  keep  up  club  payments  for 
burial.      A  considerable  number  of  those  dying  at  the   workhouse    are 


CHARITV    ORGANIZATION.  307 

buried  not  at  the  cost  of  the  Guardians,  but  by  means  of  money  due  from 
clubs. 

Medical  charities  place  the  very  best  medical  aid  within  reach  of  the 
poorest.  The  local  infirmaries  and  hospitals  are  readily  available  for 
necessitous  sick  persons,  but  on  convalescence,  though  perhaps  still 
unable  to  work,  they  must  leave,  and  the  supply  of  food  and  nourish- 
ment ceases.  The  medical  charities  as  a  rule  endeavor  to  obtain  pay- 
ment from  patients  who  may  be  able  to  afford  it,  and  for  some  years 
have  striven  to  make  the  generous  aid  to  the  sick  as  slightly  pauperiz- 
ing as  possible. 

Manchester  has  some  municipal  charities,  but  they  provide  chiefly 
gifts  of  blankets,  calico,  shawls  and  counterpanes  once  in  the  year,  and 
only  occasional  doles  of  money. 

There  are  active  and  successful  societies  for  the  rescue  of  children 
from  the  streets,  penitentiaries,  preventive  homes,  prison  gate  missions. 
A  considerable  amount  of  aid  is  given  in  money,  food  and  clothing  by 
the  churches,  chapels  and  missions  of  the  city  acting  independently  of 
each  other. 

The  operations  of  the  Manchester  and  Salford  District  Provident 
Society  are  based  upon  some  of  the  chief  aims  of  charity  organization. 
Its  first  rule  describes  its  object.  "The  encouragement  of  industry  and 
frugality,  the  suppression  of  mendicity  and  imposture,  and  the  occa- 
sional relief  of  sickness  and  unavoidable  misfortune." 

The  methods  of  the  Society  are:  — 

1.  A  thorough  system  of  inquiry  into  all  cases  brought  under  the 
Society's  notice. 

By  the  inquiries  made  by  the  experienced  officers  in  response  to 
requests  for  information  by  benevolently  disposed  persons  much  impos- 
ture is  exposed,  and  frequently  the  intending  donor  turns  his  charity 
into  useful  channels.  The  society  not  only  seeks  to  expose  imposture, 
but  to  guide  assistance  to  real  service. 

2 .  A  fund  for  the  relief  of  sickness  and  unavoidable  misfortune. 

The  distribution  of  this  fund  is  most  carefully  conducted.  A  large 
number  of  respectable  persons  and  families  are  assisted  during  periods 
of  sickness,  (irants  are  made  to  widows  of  money,  sewing  machines 
and  mangles  to  enable  them  to  become  self-supporting;  and  for  men  in 
distress,  when  investigation  has  shown  there  is  good  probability  of  a 
livelihood  being  earned,  tools,  donkeys  and  carts,  and  other  capital 
outlay  is  provided. 


3o8        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

3.  Pr'ovident  Dispensaries. 
'  The  system  of  weekly  payments  by  persons  of  small  incomes,  ensur- 
ing medical  advice  and  medicine  when  sickness  arises,  has  been 
successfully  developed.  The  majority  of  the  dispensaries  established 
have  become  self-supporting.  The  effect  is  most  beneficial  to  the 
members  subscribing,  habits  of  thrift  are  induced.  But  for  member- 
ship in  a  dispensary,  many  of  them  would  be  compelled  to  apply  to 
the  Guardians  for  medical  relief  when  sick  and  be  thus  brought  into  at 
least  temporary  pauperism.  There  are  nine  provident  dispensaries  in 
Manchester  and  Salford.  The  number  of  members  on  the  books  on 
December  31st,  1892,  was  21,581.  The  amount  paid  by  members 
during  the  year  ending  on  that  date  amounted  to  ^^4,340   lyj.  6d. 

The  Society  undertakes  investigations  for  the  hospitals  of  the  city 
into  the  circumstances  of  patients  receiving  aid,  who  may  be  con- 
sidered able  to  pay  for  the  hospital  service  rendered  to  them.  The 
following  figures  show  the  percentages  from  year  to  year,  of  those 
applicants  to  the  medical  charities  co-operating  with  this  association 
who  were  found  on  investigation  to  be  ineligible  iox  gratuitous  medical 
relief,  and  who  were  in  consequence  referred  to  the  branch  provident 
dispensaries  : — 

1871;  4--32  per  cent.  '         1884 i4-'9  pei'  cent. 

1876 24.50         "  1885  13.57 

1877 24.00         "  [         1886 II. 15         " 

1878 19.74         ''  18S7 9.29 


)j 


1879 13.61  "  1888  6.5 

1880 14.76  "  j    1889 6.89 

1881 14.48  "  '    1890 6.49 

1882 13.51  "  1891 7.49    •' 

1883 12.12  "  , 

4.  Convalescent  Home  at  the  Sea  Side. 

This  home  is  of  great  value  in  enabling  wage- earners  to  quickly 
regain  strength  for  work.  There  is  a  fixed  charge  per  week  for  main- 
tenance there,  paid  either  by  .subscribers,  or  by  patients  and  their 
friends,  or  in  necessitous  cases  by  the  Society,  which  debits  its  relief 
fund  with  the  charge. 

5.  Fenny  Banks. 

The  Society  led  the  way  in  the  city  in  the  establishment  of  these  use- 
ful encouragements  to  thrift.      Since  then   increased  facilities  for  small 


CHARnV    ORGANIZATION.  309 

savings  have  been  provided  by  the  Government  and  the  School  Board. 
Opportunity  for  the  lodgment  of  small  savings  is  regarded  by  the 
Society  as  of  great  service  to  poor  persons. 

Though  the  Society  does  not  make  money  grants  from  its  funds  except 
for  temporary  assistance,  yet  there  are  some  cases  of  aged  persons  of 
good  character  aided  for  longer  periods  by  private  gifts  of  some  of  its 
members,  which  are  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  secretary  for  small  weekly 
payments  to  the  recipients. 

This  rapid  glance  into  the  chief  agencies  in  operation  in  Manchester 
for  the  relief  of  distress  and  assistance  towards  self-support  makes  appa- 
rent some  developments  still  needing  to  be  undertaken.  There  is  no 
provision  for  permanently  aiding  enfeebled  and  weary  aged  women  and 
men  who  are  failing  in  the  struggle  of  life,  who  dread  the  workhouse  and 
who  shrink  even  from  out-relief  by  the  Guardians  because  of  repugnance 
to  becoming  paupers. 

Nothing  appeals  more  to  the  sympathy  of  the  benevolent  than  the 
deep  poverty  of  an  old  woman  or  man  of  good  character,  who  growing 
past  work  and  without  any  or  only  partial  support  from  children,  holds 
aloof  from  poor  law  relief,  and  dreads  coming  days  with  still  lessened 
earnings.  The  number  of  such  persons  even  in  a  large  population  is  not 
great,  because  the  majority  of  aged  persons  have  children  able  to  contri- 
bute to  their  support;  and  though  this  duty  is  often  neglected,  it  can  be 
no  function  of  charity  organization  to  relieve  children,  who  are  able, 
from  proper  contribution  to  their  parents.  They  are  principally  women. 
Old  men  do  not  live  so  long  in  necessitous  circumstances  as  old  women 
do;   they  much  more  readily  seek  the  food  and  shelter  of  the  workhouse. 

A  member  of  the  Manchester  Board  of  Guardians,  who  has  interested 
himself  specially  in  the  administration  of  out-relief  and  is  fully  alive  to 
its  dangers  and  advantages,  having  the  impression  that  there  were  in  the 
city  a  number  of  elderly  women  and  men  of  excellent  character,  living 
in  great  poverty,  who  instead  of  regarding  poor  law  relief  as  an  available 
provision,  feared  it  with  such  intensity  that  the  probability  of  its  becom- 
ing inevitable  became  the  sharpest  trial  of  their  lives,  began  seven  years 
ago  to  search  for  them.  They  are  not  readily  found,  they  make  no  noise 
and  give  little  sign  of  their  deep  want.  His  experience  has  been  that 
regular  small  gifts  of  money,  which  can  be  relied  upon,  make  all  the 
difference  between  anxiety  and  contentment,  and  brighten  to  a  wonder- 
ful  extent  lives  otherwise  darkened  by  daily  fear  of  want.      Relieving 


3IO        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


officers,  district  nurses,  clergymen  and  city  missionaries  have  assisted 
him  in  finding  the  right  persons.  A  friend  having  joined  in  the  cost, 
it  has  been  possible  for  him  to  continue  his  visitations  and  provide 
weekly  grants.  He  is,  in  fact,  taking  small  pensions — of  from  2s.  dd. 
to  3^.  6c/.  per  week — to  respectable  old  persons  who  have  some  slight 
source  of  income  or  house-room,  but  are  without  relations  who  can  sup- 
port them,  and  who  can  be  relied  upon  to  expend  the  money  benefi- 
cially. 

The  development  of  organized  charity  to  meet  this  work  would  require 
the  society  undertaking  it  to  add  to  its  present  system  of  investigation 
inquiry  for  aged  persons  of  good  character  who  are  without  children 
able  to  support  them,  and  in  satisfactory  cases  to  make  grants  of  weekly 
sums  of  money,  which  will  not  be  discontinued,  except  on  change  of  cir- 
cumstances, for  at  least  six  months.  The  fact  of  some  degree  of  perma- 
nence is  of  great  comfort  to  the  recipients. 

The  society  should  also  see  that  removal  to  a  hospital  or  to  the  work- 
house took  place  in  cases  where  sickness  or  incapacity  might  make  it 
necessary.  But  these  cases  are  few.  Decent  old  people  have  almost 
always  friends  and  neighbors  who  come  to  their  help  for  nursing  and 
attendance  at  the  last.  The  warmest  expressions  of  thankfulness  that 
have  been  made  by  old  persons  assisted  by  such  weekly  grants  have  been 
from  persons  who  have  thus  been  enabled  to  meet  the  expected  last  ill- 
ness at  home  and  among  friends.  It  is  noteworthy  that,  during  the 
seven  years  the  gentleman  named  has  been  assisting  aged  persons,  in 
every  instance  of  death  provision  had  been  made  by  the  recipient  for 
the  funeral  by  payments  to  a  burial  club,  often  commenced  early  in 
life. 

Poor  Law  Guardians  are  becoming  disposed  to  make  special  provision 
for  aged  persons  of  good  character  in  homes  outside  the  workhouse 
proper.  This  will  remove  some  of  the  causes  of  unwillingness  on  the 
part  of  such  persons  to  avail  themselves  of  Poor  Law  relief.  But  there  will 
remain  scope  for  the  operation  of  organized  charity  on  behalf  of  some, 
who  through  no  fault  of  their  own  "have  waxen  poor  and  fallen  into 
decay." 

There  are  some  aged  persons  of  good  character  in  worse  circum- 
stances than  those  who  are  without  children  capable  of  aiding  them, 
namely,  those  who  have  children  able  to  contribute,  but  who  are  neg- 
lected by  them,  receiving  nothing  or  only  occasional   sums.     The   fact 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  31I 

of  the  ability  of  their  children  puts  them  out  of  reach  of  aid  from 
organized  charity.  'They  can  only  obtain  magistrates'  orders  to  compel 
children  to  support  them  by  first  becoming  chargeable  to  the  Guardians. 
There  is  a  bill  before  Parliament  to  give  power  to  parents  to  apply 
directly  to  the  magistrates.  When  this  bill  becomes  law  it  may  prove 
to  be  one  of  the  functions  of  organized  charity  to  assist  poor  and  feeble 
parents  to  obtain  orders  for  maintenance  against  capable  sons  and 
daughters. 


IN  rERNAlIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


THE    CHARITIES    OF    BRISTOL. 

'  BY  MISS  ELIZABETH  STURGE,   A  MEMBER  OF  THE  BRISIOL  C.   O.    S. 

Bristol  is  an  ancient  city  whose  municipal  life  dates  from  Saxon,  if 
not  from  Roman  times.  It  is  not  an  easy  task  through  the  chequered 
history  of  a  thousand  years  to  trace  the  growth  of  its  institutions  for 
dealing  with  the  poor  and  destitute. 

Before  the  Reformation  it  possessed  its  Abbey  and  other  religious 
houses  whence,  doubtless,  alms  were  dispensed  according  to  the  usage 
of  the  middle  ages;  but  with  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries  this 
form  of  relief  to  the  poor  ceased.  The  deplorable  destitution  through- 
out the  country  which  followed  this  and  other  changes,  and  led  to  the 
passing  of  the  great  Act  known  as  the  "Forty-third  of  Elizabeth," 
doubtless  moved  the  hearts  of  the  charitable  to  deeds  of  mercy;  and 
after  this  period  religious  activity  took  the  form  of  endowments  for  the 
relief  of  the  indigent  rather  than,  as  in  former  times,  of  noble  works  of 
church  architecture. 

In  Bristol  henceforth  a  long  succession  of  benefactors  sought  by 
larger  or  smaller  bequests  to  provide  for  the  bodily  wants  of  the  poor 
of  the  several  parishes.  Thus  St.  Mary  Redcliff  draws  from  its  endow- 
ments ;^345  for  the  uses  of  the  poor;  St.  James  has  gradually  acquired 
an  income  of  about  ^^640;  while  St.  Nicholas  possessed,  until  they  were 
recently  diverted  under  a  scheme  of  the  charity  commissioners  to  gen- 
eral educational  purposes,  revenues  amounting  to  about  ^1,000. 

The  vicars  and  church  wardens  of  twenty  parishes  still  distribute 
yearly  from  their  endowed  charities  a  total  of  about  ^2,500;  of  which 
between  ;^5oo  and  ^600  appears  to  be  given  away  in  bread;  ;^5oo  in 
clothing  and  fuel;  and  jQ(>S°  i^"*  doles  of  money,  which  range  in  amount 
from  ^10  to  a  few  shillings. 

Beside  the  founders  of  the  parochial  charities,  Bristol  has  been  rich 
in  benefactors  whose  generosity  has  extended  over  a  wider  area.  Thus 
Alderman  Whitson,  about  1629,  left  large  bequests  to  be  distributed  in 
the  form  of  doles  to  the  needy  in  any  part  of  the  then  existing  town; 
and  Edward  Colston,  about  1690,  founded  numerous  schools  and  alms- 
houses on  so  liberal  a  scale,  that  his  name  has  ever  since  been  represen- 


,  CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  313 

tative  for  Bristol  citizens  of  large-hearted  charity.  Three  societies, 
established  during  the  last  century  and  called  after  him  the  Colston 
Societies,  are  still  in  active  operation,  subscriptions  to  the  amount  of 
^3,000  being  raised  annually  by  them  and  dispensed  as  annuities  and 
doles. 

The  non-parochial  endowed  charities  are  in  the  hands  of  trustees,  of 
which  the  most  important  board  is  responsible  for  the  administration  of 
those  formerly  in   the  gift  of  the  corporation.      These  consist,  besides 
schools   on  which   an   income   of  ^12,000  is  expended,   of  annuities,, 
almshouses,    gifts   of   money    &c.,    and    amount    to   a   yearly   value   of 
^8,000.      In  addition  a  large  number  of  almshouses  and  annuities  are 
in  the  bestowal  of  more  private  bodies.      x\lmshouses  provide  for  a  total 
of  526  persons;  annuities,  which  range  in  amount  from  ^35  to  ^5   ^s. 
for  439;  while   about   ^2,144   is  expended   annually  by  parochial  and 
other  charities  in  doles. 

This  large  provision  for  the  poor  would  be  a  subject  for  local  con- 
gratulation if  good  intentions  could  ensure  good  results;  but  unfortu- 
nately this  is  not  so;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  assert  that  while  tem- 
porary comfort  and  satisfaction  have  doubtless  been  given  in  many  indi- 
vidual instances,  the  effect  of  the  action  of  the  charities  on  the  well- 
being  of  the  poorer  citizens  has  been  on  the  whole  for  evil,  because  of 
the  weakening  effect  on  character  resulting  from  encouragement  to  rely 
for  the  future  on  the  help  of  others. 

The   law  guards  jealously,   and   no  doubt  wisely,   the  sacredness   of 
testators'    rights.      Property  of  more   than  a  small   yearly  value   which 
has  been  left  for  a  particular  purpose  cannot  be  diverted   to  any  other, 
except  under  special  legal  powers,  even  when    it  is  obvious  that  its  pre- 
sent use  is  doing  harm. 

In  Bristol,  as  elsewhere,  the  lapse  of  centuries  has  wrought  great 
changes.  Parishes  which  were  formerly  populous  have  become  com- 
paratively deserted.  The  inhabitants  of  the  ancient  city,  who  alone 
share  in  the  benefits  of  many  of  the  charities,  form  now  but  a  small 
proportion  of  the  total  population,  and  since  the  passing  of  the  first 
Reform  Act  the  freemen  of  the  city,  for  whom  and  whose  families 
many  benefactions  are  reserved,  have  much  diminished  in  numbers,  so 
that  the  charities  limited  to  this  class  have  become  far  less  generally 
applicable  than  was  the  intention  of  their  founders. 

The  operation  of  the  system  of  doles  must  be  regarded  as  productive 
of  harm  rather  than  good  to  the  classes  affected   by  them.      In  general 


314        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARllIES    AND    CORRECITON. 

the  church  wardens  and  vestries  are  not  guided  in  their  choice  of 
recipients  by  considerations  as  to  thrift  and  permanent  benefit;  and 
even  if  they  were,  they  would  be  unable  under  the  rigid  terms  of  their 
foundations  to  vary  either  the  amount  or  the  time  of  bestowing  their 
gifts.  These  are  not  as  a  rule  therefore  available  for  cases  of  temporary 
difficulty,  while  at  the  same  time  they,  are  too  small  and  too  irregular 
to  be  of  permanent  benefit  as  pensions. 

The  methods  pursued  by  the  municipal  trustees  for  apportioning  the 
charities  in  their  gift  cannot  be  regarded  as  adequate.  There  is  a  very 
large  number  of  applicants  for  every  vacancy,  and  there  is  no  other  means 
of  judging  between  them  than  such  as  is  afforded  by  the  enquiries  which 
the  time  and  opportunity  of  individual  trustees — generally  men  honor- 
ably occupied  in  other  important  duties — may  allow  of  their  making. 
As  no  candidate  can  obtain  a  hearing  who  has  not  such  personal  sup- 
port, it  inevitably  results  that  the  provision  thus  existing  is  unavailable 
except  for  the  few  who  are  known  to  or  have  access  to  one  of  the 
trustees. 

There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  case  stands  differently  in  regard 
to  the  almshouses  and  annuities  controlled  by  other  trustees;  but  as  to 
the  methods  of  these  more  private  bodies  it  is  less  easy  to  obtain  infor- 
mation. 

As  regards  the  action  of  the  Colston  Societies,  the  main  object  of 
two  of  these  is  political,  and  their  annual  dinners  are  made  the  occa- 
sions of  speeches  by  members  of  the  Government  and  others,  so  that 
they  are  involved  with  matters  unconnected  with  the  relief  of  the 
poor. 

The  distribution  of  their  annuities  and  doles  is  managed  as  in  the  case 
of  other  voting  charities.  One  or  more  known  citizens  having  granted 
their  names  as  recommending  a  case,  details  are  generally  neither 
asked  nor  given,  and  the  voting  is  determined  in  the  usual  way  by 
canvassing  and  personal  pressure.  By  the  action  of  the  three  societies 
about  ^1,872  is  annually  distributed  in  annuities  of  the  value  of  ^£13, 
and  ^1,200  in  doles. 

In  addition  to  the  gifts  thus  bestowed,  Bristol  is  not  behind  other 
places  in  supporting  liberally  the  many  societies  and  charitable  institu- 
tions which  modern  benevolence  has  called  into  existence.  According 
to  the  report  of  the  commission  of  enquiry  of  1885,  about  ^38,000  is 
annually  raised  for  these  purposes.  A  very  large  sum  is  also  given 
away    privately;   much  of  it    in   the   form    of   that   true   charity  which 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  315 

silently  provides  for  the  needs  of  neighbors  and  dependents,  but  much 
also  of  that  unwise  charity  which  gives  without  enquiry,  and  enables 
the  importunate  and  idle  to  live  on  the  credulity  of  the  careless  rich. 

Side  by  side  with  the  great  charities  we  have  of  course  the  Poor 
Law. 

For  poor  law  purposes  Bristol  is  divided  into  three  unions  of  which 
the  parishes  comprising  the  ancient  city  form  the  central  one,  wholly 
urban  in  its  character,  and  containing  now  55,500  inhabitants;  while 
Barton  Regis  (193,000)  and  Bedminster  (77,500)  include  different 
parts  of  newer  districts  and  suburbs,  as  well  as  portions  of  the  outly- 
ing country  districts,  and  involve  the  difficulties  of  administration  inci- 
dent to  a  mixed  urban  and  rural  population. 

In  Bristol  as  a  whole,  but  more  especially  in  the  ancient  city,  there 
has  long  been  an  exceptionally  high  rate  of  pauperism  as  compared 
with  other  large  towns;  and  this  undesirable  distinction  still  continues, 
although  the  last  twenty  years  show  a  steady  decline  in  all  three  unions, 
corresponding  with  the  decrease  throughout  the  country. 

Causes  connected  with  the  industrial  condition  of  the  city  may  have 
had  something  to  do  with  this  state  of  things.  A  century  ago  the  port 
of  Bristol  was  one  of  the  most  important  in  the  kingdom.  It  has 
entirely  lost  that  position  now,  and  ranks  far  behind  many  newer  towns; 
partly  in  consequence  of  the  ruin  of  its  sugar  industry  brought  about 
by  the  results  of  emancipation  in  the  West  Indies,  followed  by  the 
French  bounty  system;  partly  owing  to  the  difficulty  and  danger  attend- 
ing the  navigation  of  its  narrow  tidal  river  by  large  modern  steamers; 
partly,  too,  owing  to  the  short-sighted  policy  of  the  authorities,  who 
in  the  early  part  of  the  century  exacted  exorbitant  dues,  and  long 
neglected  to  supply  dock  accommodation  at  the  mouth  of  the  river. 
Trade  thus  left  the  port,  and  Liverpool  and  other  towns  prospered  at 
its  expense. 

Another  cause  of  pauperism  must  be  noted  in  the  low  rate  of  wages, 
which  have  not  risen  in  Bristol  to  an  extent  commensurate  with  the 
general  rise  throughout  the  country.  It  may  be  open  to  question,  how- 
ever, whether  this  may  not  be  an  effect  as  well  as  a  cause  of  the 
large  amount  of  out-relief  which  has  always  been  given;  for,  making 
allowance  for  the  drawbacks  to  prosperity  alluded  to,  we  should,  we 
believe,  ignore  a  commonplace  of  experience  if  we  did  not  recognize 
the  vital  connection  between  a  free  administration  of  out-relief  and  the 


31 6         INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

existence  of  large  charities  on  the  one  hand,  and  low  wages  and  a  high 
rate  of  pauperism  on  the  other. 

It  will  be  seen  that  there  is  thus  no  lack  of  aid  to  the  poor  from 
many  sources.  The  real  difficulty  has  been  the  want  of  method  and 
intelligence  shown  in  bestowing  it.  No  attempt  has  been  made  by 
any  centre  of  relief  to  work  with  reference  to  any  other.  Overlapping 
has  gone  on  unchecked.  Guardians  and  dispensers  of  charity  of  all 
kinds  have  relieved  the  same  people,  none  of  them  having  any  know- 
ledge of  what  others  were  doing.  The  idle  and  improvident  have  thus 
flourished  at  the  expense  of  the  industrious  and  thrifty;  for  under  such 
conditions  it  is  those  who  ask  most  who  receive  most. 

No  serious  effort  was  made  to  improve  this  state  of  things  until  about 
1870,  when  the  interest  aroused  in  the  subject  of  wise  methods  of 
charity,  which  had  led  to  the  issue  of  Mr.  Goschen's  Poor  Law  Minute 
of  1869  and  the  subsequent  establishment  of  the  London  Charity 
Organization  Society,  extended  itself  to  Bristol,  and  a  Charity  Organiza- 
tion Society  for  that  city  was  formed.  Before  that  time  a  Mendicity 
Society  did  useful  work  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century;  but  it  seems 
to  have  limited  its  operations  to  efforts  for  the  prevention  of  begging, 
and  not  to  have  attempted  to  deal  with  the  larger  and  more  complex 
aspects  of  the  subject. 

The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  pioneers  in  this  work  in  such  a  city 
as  Bristol  cannot  be  exaggerated.  The  complexity  of  the  questions 
involved;  the  difficulty  of  learning  the  truth:  the  vested  interests  to  be 
disturbed;  and,  not  least,  the  impossibility  of  arousing  public  sympathy; 
all  this  made  the  work  seem  for  many  years  well  nigh  hopeless.  Warm 
friends  of  the  cause,  disappointed  and  disheartened,  withdrew  one  after 
another  to  more  hopeful  fields  of  labor.  Nevertheless  the  Society  con- 
tinued to  do  useful  work.  Its  main  office  through  all  changes  remained 
open,  although  branches  which  were  tried  from  time  to  time  had  to  be 
closed.  At  present  it  is  not  claiming  too  much  for  it  to  say,  that  at  its 
table  case-work,  as  careful  and  sound  as  that  of  any  of  the  London  com- 
mittees, is  done  weekly.  Still  the  amount  accomplished  remained  small 
when  compared  with  the  needs  of  so  large  a  town,  and  the  committee 
failed  to  bring  about  any  system  of  co-operation  between  the  poor  law 
authorities  and  the  dispensers  of  the  endowed  and  other  charities. 

Most  of  the  influential  inhabitants  of  Bristol   and  Clifton  have  held 
aloof  from   giving   the  Society  the  advantage  of  their  personal   support' 
and  guidance,  and  perhaps  the  unpopularity  attaching  to  such  work  has 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  317 

not  invariably  been  lessened  by  tact  in  its  dealings.  It  was  impossible, 
too,  that  one  office  should  really  do  the  work  involved,  and  that  dispatch 
and  thoroughness  should  not  suffer  while  such  long  distances  had  to  be 
covered  by  a  limited  staff. 

The  appearance  in  1885  of  the  valuable  report  of  the  "committee  of 
enquiry  into  the  condition  of  the  Bristol  poor' '  threw  a  flood  of  light  upon 
these  subjects,  and  suggestions  as  to  wise  methods  of  improvement  were 
made.  It  did  not  succeed  in  arresting  public  attention,  however,  and 
the  efforts  which  followed  to  bring  about  co-operation  consequently 
failed. 

But  during  the  past  three  or  four  years  prospects  have  brightened. 
Bristol  has  shared  in  the  revival  of  interest  in  questions  affecting  the 
welfare  of  the  poor  which  has  everywhere  shown  itself.  In  1889  at  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Society  many  valuable  speeches  were  made  by 
representative  local  men,  who  from  different  points  of  view  had  come  to 
see  the  need  for  action  on  its  lines.  These  were  published  in  permanent 
form,  and  the  pamphlet  was  widely  circulated  in  the  city  with  an  appeal 
for  co-operation.  As  a  result  consultations  took  place  between  mem- 
bers of  the  Society  and  some  of  the  Guardians  of  the  ancient  city.  An 
influential  council  has  been  formed  in  order  to  establish  a  committee  to 
work  within  that  union,  which  shall  act  as  a  medium  between  the  chari- 
table agencies  and  the  Guardians,  and  much  local  interest  has  been 
aroused  among  the  clergy  and  others  who  are  in  contact  with  the  poor. 
It  is  hoped  that  this  committee,  acting  in  co-operation  with  the  Charity 
Organization  Society,  will  begin  work  before  long. 

What  is  needed  is  that  the  Guardians  and  different  charitable  agen- 
cies should  arrive  at  an  understanding  as  to  the  class  of  cases  coming 
within  the  sphere  of  labor  of  each;  so  that  cases  of  temporary  distress, 
which  may  be  saved  from  a  condition  of  permanent  dependence,  may 
be  helped  adequately  and  at  the  right  time  by  the  action  of  charity.  As 
regards  permanent  cases,  the  pensions  and  almshouses  should  be  reserved 
for  the  most  thrifty  and  deserving,  apart  from  accidents  of  acquaintance 
and  personal  favor;  the  bodies  which  dispense  these  gifts  bearing  in  mind 
that  they  are  intended  for  the  good  of  the  citizens  as  a  whole,  and  not 
of  any  special  individuals  accidentally  more  fortunate  than  the  rest  in 
their  opportunities  for  pressing  their  case.  The  system  of  election  to 
the  Colston  charities  by  voting  should  be  abolished,  and  the  choice  of 
applicants  should  rest  with  a  wise  committee.  In  addition  to  considera- 
tion as  to  general  good  character,  thrift  and  forethought  on  the  part  of 


3lS        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

all  candidates  for  almshouses  or  annuities  should  count  as  important 
factors.  In  such  a  large  city  and  among  many  hundreds  of  applicants 
the  task  of  decision  must  involve  the  expenditure  of  much  time  and 
trouble.  The  trustees  and  others,  therefore,  should  obtain  assistance  in 
the  necessary  labor  of  enquiry. 

Could  such  changes  as  these  be  brought  about,  Bristol  might  well  be 
proud  of  her  noble  institutions  for  the  aged  poor. 

In  order  to  facilitate  co-operation  between  the  various  charities  and 
the  Poor  Law,  it  has  been  proposed  to  form  a  central  council,  on  which 
Guardians,  trustees  and  all  relieving  agencies  should  be  represented, 
and  which  by  subdivision  of  work  should  furnish  the  needful  means  for 
enquiry  and  render  each  agency  more  effective  within  its  sphere  of 
action.  Of  such  a  general  cou-ncil,  that  which  has  been  established  for 
the  central  union  may  be  regarded  as  a  foreshadowing.  Its  work  must 
necessarily  be  extremely  difficult,  but  when  it  is  realized  how  important 
is  such  common  action,  surely  the  Guardians  and  others  will  not  shrink 
from  the  trouble  involved. 

The  enterprise  of  Bristol  citizens  is  not  yet  extinct.  At  immense 
cost  they  are  about  to  build  large  additional  docks  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Avon,  and  the  city  will  once  more  be  abreast  with  other  great  ports  in 
its  provision  for  the  shipping  requirements  of  the  day.  Should  this 
undertaking  succeed,  the  future  may  see  a  large  extension  in  the  trade 
and  prosperity  of  the  city. 

The  labor  agitations,  though  they  have  been  accompanied  by  much 
that  is  deplorable,  may  have  the  ultimate  eftect  of  somewhat  raising  the 
rate  of  wages,  and  it  is  earnestly  to  be  desired  that,  should  an  opportu- 
nity thus  be  afforded  to  the  working  classes  of  Bristol  of  sharing  in  an 
increased  general  prosperity  and  advancing  to  a  position  more  favorable 
to  permanent  well-being  and  independence,  the  improvement  will  not 
be  hindered,  so  far  as  the  unskilled  and  the  less  able  are  concerned, 
because  the  dispensers  of  poor  law  relief  and  charity  refuse  to  co-operate, 
and  continue  to  uphold  a  policy  which  is  inimical  to  the  best  interests 
of  the  poor. 

Rate  of  pauperism  in  Bristol:  Ancient  City  i  in  20.  Bedminster  i 
in  25.      Barton  Regis  1  in  42. 

Number  of  places  in  almshouses,  526.  Number  of  annuities  (^35 
to  /^5   S-f-),  439-      This  may  not  be  quite  all. 

Amount  given  yearly  in  doles  about  ^2,144  to  about  1,746  persons. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  319 


ROCHDALE. 

INDUSTRIAL  AND  GENERAL  CHARACTERISTICS,   POOR 
LAW  ADMINISTRATION,   AND  CHARITIES. 

BY  R.   A.    LEACH,   CLERK  TO  THE  ROCHDALE  BOARD  OF  GUARDIANS. 

I.    Industrial  and  General  Characteristics. 

Rochdale,  in  the  County  of  Lancaster,  is  a  manufacturing  town 
which  is  typical  of  many  others  to  be  found  in  the  county  and  in  the 
West  Riding  of  the  adjoining  County  of  York.  So  long  ago  as  1680, 
William,  Lord  Byron  (Baron  of  Rochdale,  and  Lord  of  the  Manor) 
described  it  as  '-an  ancient  market  town  of  great  resort."  Flannel, 
which  was  the  staple  trade  of  its  inhabitants  for  centuries,  was  manu- 
factured in  the  town  so  far  back  as  the  year  1322.  Notwithstanding 
its  great  age  as  a  market  and  manufacturing  town,  it  is  said  to  be  poor 
"in  historic  fact  and  antiquarian  memento,"  but  the  fact  that  it  was 
the  birthplace  and  home  of  John  Bright,  that  it  could  claim  Richard 
Cobden  as  its  member  in  Parliament,  and  that  a  few  of  its  working 
men  (the  "Equitable  Pioneers")  gave  the  breath  of  life  to  the  co-opera- 
tive stores  movement,  which  has  yielded  results  inestimable  and  far- 
reaching,  is  alone  sufficient  to  make  any  Rochdalian  proud  of  the  place 
of  his  origin. 

The  area  of  the  town  is  4,180  statute  acres,  and  the  population 
71,458  (Census  1891).  The  area  of  the  poor  law  union,  which  covers 
the  town  and  stretches  out  to  the  surrounding  district,  is  34,822  statute 
acres,  and  the  population  123,910  (Census  1891).  The  annual  rental 
of  the  town  is  ^281,135,  which  permits  of  a  net  valuation  for  local 
rates  of  ^229,492.  The  annual  rental  and  net  valuation  for  rating 
purposes  of  the  union  are  ;;/!^625,639  and  ^511,227  respectively.  At 
present  the  chief  industries  of  the  town  are  flannel,  cotton,  and  engine 
and  machine  making.  Among  the  minor  industries  are  manufactories 
of  silks,  velvets,  carpets  and  paper,  dye  works  and  corn  milling,  and, 
as  may  lie  supposed,  there  are  several  building  contractors.  In  the 
surrounding  district,  besides  the  industries  mentioned,  there  is  stone- 
quarrying  and  also  coal-mining,  but  coal-mining  is  not  carried  on  to 
any  large  extent.      There   is  farming,  too,  though   it   is   not   of  a   kind 


320        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

that  enables  us  to  speak  of  any  part   of  the  poor  law  union  area   as 
"agricultural"  in  the  popularly  accepted  sense  of  the  term. 

The  population  of  the  town  and  district  may  be  truly  characterized 
as  a  working-class  population;  and  though  there  may  be  nooks  and 
corners  in  and  about  the  town  and  district  where  dirt,  poverty  and 
wretchedness  exist,  the  population  in  the  bulk  for  comfort  of  circum- 
stances will  compare  very  favorably  indeed  with  the  population  of  any 
other  place.  The  death  rate  in  the  town  is,  for  a  manufacturing  town, 
comparatively  low.  This  may  to  a  large  extent  be  attributed  to  a 
splendid  water-supply  and  a  system  of  sanitation  which  inspectors  of 
the  English  and  American  Governments  have  acknowledged  to  be  "un- 
surpassed." 

The  working  people  of  Rochdale  are  a  people  of  sturdy  indepen- 
dence and  of  forethought  and  thrift,  a  people  who  have  worked  up- 
wards, and  who  no  doubt  will  continue  to  work  upwards.  Two  years  ago 
I  made  inquiry  into  the  provisions  which  the  working  classes  of  the 
town  made  for  old  age,  the  days  of  scarcity  of  employment,  sickness 
and  death.  The  information  then  obtained  was  considered  conclusive 
evidence  of  the  virtues  mentioned.  The  following  information  is  simi- 
lar to  that  obtained  two  years  ago,  only  it  is,  if  anything,  a  little  more 
ample: 

PAYMENT.S    TO    MEMBERS    DURING    THE    YEAR    ENDED 

DECEMBER,    1892. 

Local  Friendly  Societies  having  their  Registered   Office  or   Meet- 
ing-place in  the  Town  of   Rochdale:  ^       s.     d. 

Total  Payment  for  Sickness 20,716     7    10 

"  "  Funerals 4,027    10     o 

Trades  Unions  or  Local   Branches  having  their  Meeting-places  in 
the  Town: 

Total  Payment  for  Sickness 1,297     o   11 

"  "  Funerals 432     6     o 

*Out-of-\Vork,  &c 5,38811      5 

Industrial  Assurance  Societies  and  Companies  doing  business  with 
the  Working  People  in  the  Town: 

Total  Payments  by  Societies  which  have  supplied 

information  (nearly  all  death  claims) I9i493   '9     9 

(Several  large  Societies  have  refused  to  state  their  Payments). 

Total ;^5i.355   '5   i' 

*Had  the  year  been  made  up  from   March  to  March,  this  amount  would  have  been 
much  heavier  because  of  a  dispute  in  the  cotton  trade. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  32  I 

Total  amount 
owing  to  Deposi- 
tors at  end  of  De- 
cember, i8g2,  in- 
cluding   Share 

INVESTMENTS.                                                Lo^'ani^'''  "  " '^ 

£  s.  d. 

Post-Office  Savings  Banks  (Rochdale   Town  Branches) 111,200  o  9 

Yorkshire  Penny  Bank,  Rochdale  Town  Branches 12,428  18  4 

Co-operative  Stores,  Juvenile  Banks 5»726  15  i 

Children's  Bank  at  Board  Schools 445  4  8 

Co-operative  Stores  (members"' claims) 5'5'93-  ^  o 

*Rochdale  Corporation 36,730  o  o 

'*Linnited   Companies  which   have   supplied   information   (4   of    the 

largest    Companies    have    stated    their    inability   to    furnish 

figures) 186,480  o  o 

*Building  Societies  exclusive  of  Loans 41)831  o  o 

Total .^910-774     4   10 

*i8go  Returns. 

The  figures  given  have  been  obtained  either  from  published  accounts  or  from  chief 
officials,  and  refer  to  working  people. 

Care  has  been  exercised  to  limit  the  information  as  far  as  possible  to  the  town  of  Roch- 
dale. It  may  be  taken,  therefore,  that  the  figures  given  pertain  only  to  residents  within 
the  town  and  adjoining  district. 

From  the  investments  have  been  excluded  such  as  are  not  the  investments  of  indi- 
viduals, i.  e.  investments  of  stores,  working  men's  clubs,  and  sick  societies  are  excluded. 

Information  of  amount  standing  to  the  credit  of  Rochdale  depositors  in  the  ordi- 
nary banks  not  ascertainable. 

The  local  friendly  societies  and  the  various  concerns  in  which  investments  are  made 
.are  financially  sound. 

Population  of  the  town,  71,458. 

To  the  above  information  may  be  added  another  item  which  speaks 
for  the  sturdy  independence  and  forethought  of  the  working  people 
of  Rochdale.  From  the  yth  November,  1892,  to  the  25th  March, 
1893,  a  conflict  between  the  masters  and  the  workpeople  in  the  cotton 
trade  raged  more  or  less  throughout  the  cotton  manufacturing  centres 
of  Lancashire. 

This  conflict  was  the  severest  that  has  ever  taken  place  in  the  Lanca- 
shire cotton  trade,  and  it  is  said  to  have  involved  both,  sides  in  the  loss 
of  upwards  of  two  million  pounds.  Rochdale  was  not  so  much  affected 
as  were  some  of  the  other  cotton  manufacturing  districts;  nevertheless 
it  was  very  appreciably  affected.  An  estimate  carefully  computed  by 
the  trades  union  officials  shows  that  in  the  town  and  its  immediate 
vicinity  the  workpeople  employed  as  cotton  operatives  drew  about 
y^7o,ooo  less  in  wages  than  they  would  have  done  had  the  dispute  not 
21 


32  2        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

occurred  and    had   all  the  mills  been    working   full   time   during   the 
twenty  weeks  the  struggle  lasted. 

This  loss  of  wages  meant  privation  in  hundreds  of  homes,  yet  during 
the  half  year  which  embraced  the  whole  period  of  the  dispute,  the  out- 
door relief  granted  by  the  Poor  Law  Guardians  was  only  ;£4i9  ii> 
excess  of  the  amount  given  in  the  corresponding  half  of  the  previous 
year.  The  increase  in  the  number  of  workhouse  inmates  was  but  slight; 
while  the  relief  given  by  the  local  Charity  Organization  Society  was  only 
-^28  OS.  11//.  in  excess  of  the  amount  given  in  the  corresponding  period 
of  the  preceding  year.  Even  these  small  increases  were  not  altogether 
occasioned  by  applicants  who  were  cotton  workers.  Had  it  not  been, 
though,  for  the  spirit  of  independence  amongst  the  operatives,  and 
the  helpful  resources  of  the  trades  unions,  which  the  unionist  workers 
were  able  to  draw  upon  as  f/ieir  own,  immensely  more  poor  law  relief 
and  charity  would  have  been  called  for  than  was  the  case.  The  ques- 
tion may  be  asked,  "Did  the  workers  keep  themselves  from  being 
recipients  of  parish  relief  and  charity  by  being  allowed  to  run  into 
debt  with  tradesmen?"  To  such  a  question  the  answer  may  be  made 
that  Rochdale,  in  bad  times  as  well  as  good,  excels  as  a  ready  money 
trading  town. 

II.    T/ie  Administration  of  the  Poor  Law. 

In  dealing  with  poor  law  administration  it  is  well  to  remember  that 
in  England  the  boards  of  Poor  Law  Guardians,  in  dispensing  poor  law 
relief,  whether  indoor  (workhouse)  or  outdoor,  are  subject  to  the  orders 
and  regulations  issued  by  the  central  (CTOvernment)  authority.  As 
regards  outdoor  relief,  there  are  two  classes  of  unions,  viz:  (i)  unions 
where  the  "outdoor  relief  prohibitory  order"  is  in  force,  and  (2)  unions 
where  the  "outdoor  relief  regulation  order"  is  in  force.  The  "outdoor 
relief  prohibitory  order"  directs  by  Article  1  that 

"Every  able-bodied  person,  male  or  female,  requiring  relief  (from 
the  Guardians)  shall  be  relieved  wholly  in  the  workhouse,  together  with 
such  of  the  family  of  every  such  able-bodied  person  as  may  be  resident 
with  him  or  her,  and  may  not  be  in  employment,  and  together  with  the 
wife  of  every  such  able-bodied  male  person,  if  he  be  a  married  man, 
and  if  she  be  resident  with  him;  save  and  except  in  the  following 
cases: 

I  St.  "Where  such  person  shall  require  relief  on  account  of  sudden 
and  urgent  necessity. 


CHARIIY    ORGANIZATION. 


.i^J 


2nd.  "Where  such  person  shall  require  relief  on  account  of  any 
sickness,  accident,  or  bodily  or  mental  infirmity  affecting  such  person, 
or  any  of  his  or  her  family. 

3rd.  "Where  such  person  shall  require  relief  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
fraying the  expenses,  either  wholly  or  in  part,  of  the  burial  of  any  of 
his  or  her  family. 

4th.  "Where  such  person,  being  a  widow,  shall  be  in  the  first  six 
months  of  her  widowhood. 

5th.  "Where  such  person  shall  be  a  widow  and  have  a  legitimate 
child  or  legitimate  children  dependent  upon  her,  and  incapable  of 
earning  his,  her  or  their  livelihood  and  have  no  illegitimate  child  born 
after  the  commencement  of  her  widowhood. 

6th.  "Where  such  person  shall  be  confined  in  any  gaol  or  place  of 
safe  custody,  subject  always  to  the  regulation  contained  in  Article  4. 

7th.  "Where  such  person  shall  be  the  wife  or  child  of  any  able- 
bodied  man  who  shall  l)e  in  the  service  of  Her  Majesty  as  a  soldier, 
sailor  or  marine. 

8th.  "Where  any  able-bodied  person,  not  being  a  soldier,  sailor  or 
marine,  shall  not  reside  within  the  union,  but  the  wife,  child  or  child- 
ren of  such  person  shall  reside  within  the  same,  the  Board  of  Guardians 
of  the  union,  according  to  their  discretion,  may,  subject  to  the  regu- 
lation contained  in  Article  4,  afford  relief  in  the  workhouse  to  such 
wife,  child  or  children,  or  may  allow  outdoor  relief  for  any  such  child 
or  children  being  within  the  age  of  nurture  and  resident  with  the  mother 
within  the  union." 

Article  4,  referred  to,  directs  that: 

"Where  the  husband  of  any  woman  is  beyond  the  seas,  or  in  custody 
of  the  law,  or  in  confinement  in  a  licensed  house  or  asylum  as  a  lunatic 
or  idiot,  all  relief  which  the  Guardians  shall  give  to  his  wife,  or  her 
child  or  children,  shall  be  given  to  such  woman  in  the  same  manner, 
and  subject  to  the  same  conditions,  as  if  she  were  a  widow." 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  extracts  from  the  "outdoor  relief 
prohibitory  order"  that  where  the  order  is  in  force  the  Guardians  can- 
not give,  save  in  the  exceptional  cases  set  out  under  Article  i,  outdoor 
relief  to  able-bodied  persons. 

The  "outdoor  regulation  order,"  however,  permits  the  Guardians  of 
the  unions  where  the  order  is  in  force  to  give  outdoor  relief  to  any 
resident  destitute  person,  subject  to  the  restrictions  that  the  Guardians 
cannot  establish  an  apj^licant  for  relief  in  trade,  nor  redeem  from  pawn 
tools,  implements  or  other  articles  belonging  to  the  applicant,  nor  pur- 
chase tools  or  implements  for  any  applicant,  nor  pay  the  expenses  of 
an   applicant's  conveyance   to    any   place   (unless   when    conveyed    in 


324        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

accordance  with  legal  provisions),  nor  pay  wholly  or  in  i)art  the  rent 
or  lodging  of  a  pauper,  save  temporarily  in  a  case  of  sudden  necessity. 
The  order  lays  down  the  further  restrictions  that  relief  shall  not  be 
given  "to  any  able-bodied  male  person  while  he  is  employed  for  wages 
or  other  hire;"  and  that  every  able-bodied  male  person  (save  in  case 
of  sudden  urgent  necessity,  sickness  or  death  in  the  family,  or  the 
husband  being  in  prison  or  absent),  if  relieved  out  of  the  workhouse, 
shall  be  set  to  work  and  kept  employed  by  the  Guardians  "so  long  as 
he  continues  to  receive  relief."  And  further  that  one-half  at  least  of 
the  relief  given  shall  be  given  "in  articles  of  food,  clothing,  or  in  other 
articles  of  absolute  necessity."  Rochdale  is  one  of  the  unions  where  the 
"regulation,"  and  not  the  "prohibitory  order,"  is  in  force. 

As  regards  pauperism,  the  union  stands  better  than  the  average  of 
the  Lancashire  unions,  and  Lancashire  as  a  county  stands  better  than 
England  and  Wales  as  a  whole.  Taking  the  returns  of  pauperism  for 
the  ist  January  last  year,  when  there  was  not  any  exceptional  distress, 
the  proportion  of  paupers  to  the  population  was  in  this  union  i  in  74, 
in  the  county  i  in  61;  and  in  England  and  Wales  i  in  41.  From 
these  figures  pauper  lunatics  in  county  asylums  are  excluded,  as  also 
are  vagrants — of  whom  Rochdale  has  more  than  enough,  owing  to 
one  of  the  great  highways  of  the  country  running  straight  through  the 
town. 

The  statistics  attached  to  this  paper  show  the  class  as  well  as  the 
number  of  persons  relieved  by  the  Guardians  on  the  ist  January,  1892, 
and  on  the  ist  January,  1872,  there  being  a  freedom  from  exceptional 
distress  at  both  dates;  and  they  prove  that  the  pauperism  of  the  union 
within  the  twenty  years  has  been  fairly  reduced,  even  allowing  for  the 
fact  that  the  Charity  Organization  Society  was  at  work  in  1892,  while 
it  was  not  in  existence  twenty  years  previously. 

In  the  proportion  of  indoor  paupers  to  outdoor  paupers,  Rochdale 
does  not  stand  as  well  as  Lancashire  as  a  whole,  but  it  stands  better 
than  England  and  Wales  taken  as  a  whole.  On  the  ist  of  January, 
1892,  the  proportion  of  indoor  to  outdoor  paupers  in  Rochdale  was 
I  to  2.38;  for  Lancashire  the  proportion  was  i  to  1.58;  and  for  Eng- 
land and  Wales  i  to  2.61.  As  before  stated,  Rochdale  is  a  union  where 
the  "out-relief  regulation  order,"  and  not  the  "prohibitory  order,"  is 
in  force,  and  this  may  be  accepted  as  a  reason  why  there  is  not  a  higher 
proportion  of  indoor  to  outdoor  paupers  at  Rochdale  than  there  is. 
Still,    the    Guardians   are   making    more   use  of   their  workhouse   than 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  325 

formerly;  and  there  is  every  reason  why  they  should,  for  the  workhouse 
is  a  modern  one,  and  has  been  admirably  planned.  It  affords  accom- 
modation for  about  900,  and  has  a  full  and  efhcient  staff.  The  infirm- 
ary is  detached  from  the  main  building,  and  there  are  also  detached 
buildings  for  the  insane,  for  the  children  and  for  vagrants,  as  well  as 
self-contained  cottages  for  the  aged  married  couples. 

There  are  two  classes  of  indoor  poor,  viz.,  the  sick  (embracing  the 
insane),  and  the  children,  as  regards  whom  the  Guardians'  management 
has  been  greatly  improved  during  late  years.  The  old  condition  of 
things,  when  the  sick  inmates  of  the  workhouse  were  left  chiefly  to  the 
care  of  other  pauper  inmates,  and  the  children  had  not  sufficient  special 
care,  has  gone,  and  is  not  likely  to  return.  The  sick  and  insane  inmates 
of  the  Rochdale  workhouse  are  now  attended  through  the  night,  as  well 
as  through  the  day,  by  paid  nurses  and  attendants,  who  have  been  well 
trained  for  their  work.  And  as  regards  the  children,  such  as  are  at  the 
workhouse,  besides  being  kept  apart  from  adult  pauper  inmates,  are 
brought  as  much  as  possible  in  contact  with  the  better  influences  of 
life  outside  the  workhouse  walls.  Up  to  quite  recently  these  children 
were  instructed  in  the  workhouse,  but  now  they  go  out  unattended,  with 
the  freedom  of  the  children  of  the  artisan,  and  dressed,  not  in  garb  which 
is  uniform  and  carries  the  pauper  look,  but  as  other  children,  to  the 
public  elementary  schools  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  workhouse,  and 
on  Sundays  to  the  church,  or  chapel,  and  Sunday  school  belonging  to 
their  religious  denomination. 

It  would,  perhaps,  not  be  amiss  at  this  point  to  state  that  the  legal 
provisions  which  are  in  force  in  England  enable  Guardians  to  deal  with 
pauper  children  in  a  variety  of  ways  at  the  expense  of  the  rates.  For 
instance,  children  may  be  maintained  in  workhouses  or  in  separate 
schools,  or  they  may  be  maintained  and  educated  in  voluntary  schools 
certified  by  the  central  poor  law  authority  for  the  reception  of  pauper 
children;  or,  if  of  age,  they  may  be  placed  in  service  or  apprenticed, 
and  if  orphans  or  deserted,  they  may  be  emigrated  to  Canada  or  boarded 
out  with  artisans,  or  the  Guardians  may  allow  them  to  be  adopted  by  suit- 
able persons  willing  to  do  so.  Some  Boards  of  Guardians  have  a  pref- 
erence for  one  way  of  dealing  with  their  workhouse  children,  and  some 
prefer  another,  but  the  wiser  course  is  to  make  as  free  use  as  possible  of 
all  the  provisions  named,  according  to  what  is  found  to  be  best  for  the 
children  individually. 


326         INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

The  following  figures  show  that  the  Rochdale  Guardians  have  of  late 
years  made  pretty  ample  use  of  the  various  provisions  which  relate  to 
pauper  children. 

Placed   in  service  since  the  year  1880,  including  children  adopted,  249 

Boys  sent  to  be  trained  for  sea  service  since  the  year  1880 26 

Placed  in  voluntary  certified  schools  since  October,  1890 56 

Emigrated  to  Canada  since  T889 13 

The  children  who  have  been  adopted  and  placed  in  service  have  on 
the  whole  turned  out  remarkably  well,  and  this  accounts  for  the  reluc- 
tance which  the  Rochdale  Guardians  have  always  felt  against  availing 
themselves  of  the  "Boarding-out  System, "which  is  the  system  of  board- 
ing orphan  and  deserted  children  out  in  the  homes  of  artisans  and  pay- 
ing so  much  per  week  to  the  foster  parents  for  the  children's  mainte- 
nance and  schooling. 

And  here  let  it  be  said  that  the  proper  treatment  of  the  sick  poor  in 
the  workhouse  infirmaries  is  a  policy  which  must  pay  well.  Proper 
treatment  breaks  down  the  reluctance  of  the  sick  poor  to  enter  the 
workhouse,  for  they  know  they  will  be  better  seen  after  than  they  possi- 
bly can  be  at  their  homes,  though  perhaps  the  full  and  comfortable  pro- 
vision made  at  a  properly  appointed  workhouse  infirmary  lends  itself  to 
the  danger  of  encouraging  persons,  whose  circumstances  do  not  warrant 
them  in  seeking  parish  relief,  to  seek  admission  when  sick  to  the  work- 
house infirmary  for  the  benefit  of  the  treatment  found  there;  but  that 
danger  may  always  be  carefully  guarded  against  by  vigilant  relieving 
officers.  It  is  equally  true  that  it  must  in  the  long  run  pay  well  to  deal 
with  pauper  children  in  a  thoughtful  and  generous  manner,  in  a  manner 
which  not  only  does  not  begrudge  the  children  a  future  free  from  the 
taint  of  pauperism,  but  which  goes  a  long  way  towards  making  such  a 
future  for  them.  The  pauper  children  of  to-day  will  a  few  years  hence 
be  grown  men  and  women.  To  help  them  to  become  free  men  and 
women  is  to  ensure  a  permanent  reduction  in  the  pauper  roll  and  an 
increase  in  the  number  of  honest  toilers  and  worthy  citizens;  but  to 
neglect  them  means  continual  accession  to  the  ranks  of  adult  paupers 
and  an  increase  in  the  number  of  the  idle  and  the  dissolute,  who  make 
society  their  prey. 

Before  passing  on  from  the  administration   of  the  Rochdale  Board  of 
Guardians,  another  feature  in  their  administration   may  be  mentioned. 
It    is  that  they   not    infrequently  afford   aid,   where  they   may   legally 
do  so,  at  the  expense  of  the  poor  rate,  to  persons  who,  while  they  are 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  327 

above  the  stamp  of  the  usual  applicant  for  parish  relief,  are  greatly  iri 
''need  of  assistance.  Sometimes  the  aid  is  in  finding  the  wherewithal  to 
send  some  such  persons  to  a  convalescent  home  or  hospital  for  special 
•cases;  sometimes  it  is  by  undertaking  the  cost  of  maintenance  and  train- 
ing of  a  blind  child  or  adult,  or  a  dumb  child,  or  an  imbecile  child, 
in  a  special  institution.  Within  the  last  few  years  the  Guardians  have 
■sent  ID  cases  to  institutions  for  training  the  blind  at  a  cost  of  £^20 
per  case  per  annum;  9  cases  to  schools  for  deaf  mutes  at  a  cost  of  £20 
per  case  per  annum;  and  5  cases  of  imbecile  children  to  a  special  insti- 
tution for  educating  such  children,  at  a  cost  of  ^29  \os.  per  case  per 
annum. 

III.    Charities. 

There  are  several  endowed  charities  in  Rochdale,  mostly  founded  dur- 
ing the  last  century.  Roughly  speaking,  they  cannot  in  the  aggregate 
be  worth  less  than  ^17,000.  They  are  charities  which  were  founded 
principally  for  the  schooling  of  poor  children,  but  one  of  these  charities, 
viz.,  Kenion's  Charity,  which  is  the  most  valuable  one,  having  over 
^8,000  invested,  was  founded  for  "placing  out  poor  children  as 
apprentices;"  and  another,  viz.  Gartside's  Charity,  which  has  a  fund  of 
about  ^6,000,  was  founded  that  the  annual  income  from  the  fund 
might,  after  the  annual  payment  of  20  shillings  for  a  yearly  sermon  at 
the  parish  church,  be  applied  in  buying  clothing  or  corn  for  distribution 
among  the  poor  on  Christmas  day.  Both  the  Kenion's  Charity  and  the 
Gartside's  Charity  are  at  present  administered  according  to  the  directions 
of  the  founders,  but  as  there  is  a  growing  disposition  that  these  charities — 
-and  all  such  endowments — should  be  applied  in  founding  exhibitions 
and  scholarships  at  institutions  for  secondary  and  technical  education, 
it  is  within  the  range  of  possibility  that  they  may  lose  at  no  distant  date 
their  present  distinctive  features  as  charities;  so  it  would  be  best  here 
to  leave  them  out  of  reckoning.  Besides  the  endowed  charities  above 
referred  to,  there  are  in  Rochdale  the  undermentioned  recognized 
charitable  societies  and  institutions,   viz  :  — 

(i).  The  Benevolent  Society,  established  in  the  year  1807,  for  the 
temporary  relief  of  the  poor  and  sick  of  all  denominations. 

(2).  The  Ladies'  Charity,  established  in  the  year  181 7,  to  afford 
assistance  to  poor  married  women  in  childbed;  and  to  widows  whose 
husbands  have  died  leaving  them  pregnant. 


I 


328         INIERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

(3).  The  Rochdale  Dispensary  (now  Infirmary  and  Dispensary),  insti- 
tuted in  the  year  1831,  to  afford  medical  and  surgical  aid  to  the  poor. 

(4.)  The  Good  Samaritan  Society,  established  in  the  year  1832,  for 
the  relief  of  the  sick  poor. 

(5).  The  Ashworth  Chapel  for  the  Destitute,  established  1858,  and 
embracing  a  nightly  shelter  for  homeless  females  and  a  mission  for 
teaching  the  blind. 

(6).  The  Poor  Children's  Aid  Committee,  formed  in  1878,  for  send- 
ing poor  and  sickly  children  to  the  sea-side,  which  committee  has  now 
an  excellent  Home  for  Children  at  St.  Anne's  on-the-Sea. 

(7).  The  Charity  Organization  Society,  established  in  1879,  for  the 
repression  of  mendicancy,  and  for  securing  adequate  relief  for  really 
necessitous  and  deserving  cases. 

These  seven  recognized  charitable  societies  and  institutions  depend 
for  a  continuance  of  their  operations  on  voluntary  donations  and  sub- 
scriptions; and  though  the  Ladies'  Charity  has  ^1,200  invested  in  Cor- 
poration stock,  the  Good  Samaritan  Society  ,^^400  invested,  the  Benevo- 
lent Society  ^400  invested,  and  the  Charity  Organization  Society  _p^26o 
(as  an  emergency  fund)  similarly  invested,  yet  if  the  voluntary  sub- 
scriptions and  donations  ceased,  the  work  of  the  societies  would  soon 
come  to  a  standstill. 

The  value  of  the  aid  given  in  food,  money,  and  clothing  by  four 
of  the  seven  charities,  namely,  the  Benevolent  Society,  the  Ladies' 
Charity,  the  Good  Samaritan  Society,  and  the  Chapel  for  the  Des- 
titute, during  last  year  amounted  to  about  ^265,  and  the  cases 
dealt  with  would  probably  be  between  four  and  five  hundred.  In 
connection  with  the  infirmary  and  dispensary,  253  in-patients  and 
187 1  out-patients  were  treated  during  the  year,  while  the  Poor  Child- 
ren's Aid  Committee  sent  iio  children  for  a  few  weeks'  stay  to  the 
Home  at  St.  Anne's  on-the-Sea.  The  Charity  Organization  Society, 
which  is  the  only  charitable  agency  in  Rochdale  which  keeps  a  paid 
officer  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  applications  and  investigating  the 
circumstances  of  the  applicants,  received  during  the  year  1161  appli- 
cations for  assistance,  of  which  659  were  recurrent  applications.  Of 
the  1 161  cases,  882  received  relief,  the  total  value  of  the  relief  being 
^224  18s.  8d.,  exclusive  of  195  hospital  letters  distributed,  which  were 
valued  at  ^60  12s.  yi.  As  to  the  remainder  of  the  cases,  46  were  recom- 
mended to  other  agencies  or  to  private  persons  for  assistance,  while  no 
cases  were  dismissed  as  undeserving,  and   the  rest  were  refused  assist- 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  329 

ance  as  being  cases  which  should  be  left  to  the  Poor  Law,  or  were 
rejected  on  other  grounds.  It  may  safely  be  taken  that  the  foregoing 
figures  relating  to  the  relief  given  by  the  seven  charities  during  the 
past  year  are  fairly  representative  as  the  figures  of  an  average  year. 
The  work  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society,  I  feel,  deserves  more 
extended  mention  than  is  given  by  the  summarized  figures  of  one  year, 
and  having  that  feeling,  I  append  hereto  an  interesting  report  with 
diagrams  prepared  by  Mr.  Alderman  J.  R.  Heape,  J.  P.,  Hon.  Secretary 
of  the  Society,  on  the  work  done  by  the  Society  during  the  years  1880 
to  1 89 1. 

IV.    Co-operation  between  the  Poor  Law  and  the  Charities. 

It  would  be  untrue  to  state  that  there  is  a  thorough  and  an  all- 
round  co-operation  between  the  administration  of  the  Poor  Law  and  the 
administration  of  the  charities  in  Rochdale.  That  there  ought  to  be 
such  a  co-operation  may  at  once  be  admitted.  That  there  is  not  may 
be  set  down  to  want  of  thought.  The  Guardians  are  ready  to  co-operate 
with  the  charities,  and  do  co-operate  with  the  Charity  Organization 
Society  by  appointing  representatives  from  their  Board  on  the  Society's 
committee  of  management.  The  relieving  officers  of  the  union  and 
the  inquiry  officer  of  the  Society  also  keep  well  in  touch  about  their 
cases.  That  there  is  not  a  thorough  and  an  all-round  co-operation,  and 
co-operation  with  the  general  public  as  well,  cannot  be  laid  to  the 
blame  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society,  as  the  following  extracts 
from  the  constitution  of  the  Society  will  show  :-- 

The  objects  of  the  Society  shall  be  (istj  to  investigate  thoroughly  the 
cases  of  all  needy  persons  in  the  district  coming  before  the  committee, 
with  a  view  to  («:)  forwarding  such  cases  to  the  poor  law  authorities  or  • 
other  charities  (to  be  brought  if  possible  into  mutual  co-operation),  or  {b^ 
relieving  them  through  the  funds  at  the  disposal  of  the  Society,  or  \c) 
referring  them  to  i)rivate  benevolence.  (2nd)  To  repress  mendicancy 
within  the  sphere  of  the  Society's  operations  by  prosecution  or  otherwise. 

The  Society  shall  be  under  the  management  of  a  president,  vice- 
presidents,  treasurer,  one  or  more  honorary  secretaries,  and  a  committee 
(with  power  to  add  to  their  number),  constituted  in  the  following  man- 
ner :  one  representative  from  each  charitable  agency  and  relief 
society  working  in  the  district;  one  representative  from  each  church, 
chapel,  or  other  place  of  worship  in  the  district  (not  otherwise  repre- 
sented); two  or  more  representatives  from  the  Board  of  Poor  Law 
Guardians;  and  other  persons  able  and  willing  to  devote  time  to  the 
work.     The   Mayor  of  Rochdale   shall  be   ex-officio  president   of  the 


;^;^0        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

Society.     All   the  other  officers   and   members  of  the  committee  shall 
be  annually  elected. 

One  or  more  pro]ierly  accredited  charity  officers  shall  be  appointed 
by  the  committee,  who  shall  be  responsible  for  the  investigation  of  all 
cases  coming  before  the  committee,  and  shall  be  in  communication  with 
the  relieving  officers  and  agents  of  the  various  charities  in  the  borough. 

The  charity  office  shall  be  open  to  applicants  at  such  stated  hours 
as  the  committee  shall  determine,  and  a  charity  officer  shall  be  in 
attendance  during  those  hours  to  receive  applications. 

Tickets  bearing  the  address  of  the  charity  office  shall  be  supplied 
gratuitously  to  householders  in  the  district,  and  the  cases  of  all  appli- 
cants presenting  themselves  at  the  charity  office  shall  be  investigated 
and  reported  to  the  committee. 

All  cases  properly  belonging  to  the  Poor  Law  shall  be  at  once  re- 
ferred to  the  Guardians,  and  the  committee  shall  not  supplement  the 
relief  given  by  the  Guardians,  except  under  special  circumstances. 

All  cases  that  can  appropriately  be  dealt  with  by  any  existing 
charity  within  the  borough  shall  be,  after  due  investigation,  referred  to 
such  charity,  and  assistance  shall  only  be  granted  by  the  committee  in 
cases  which  cannot  properly  be  dealt  with  by  any  other  agency. 

Information  regarding  the  scope  and  operations  of  the  charities  of 
the  district  shall  be  collected,  and  kept  at  the  office  for  the  information 
of  residents,  and  the  books  of  the  committee  shall  be  at  all  times  open 
to  those  legitimately  interested  in  particular  cases,  or  in  the  welfare  of 
the  poor  generally. 

A  register  of  persons  willing  to  dispense  charity  privately  shall  be 
kept  at  the  office. 

In  face  of  the  foregoing  extracts  it  is  scarcely  conceivable  that  there 
should  not  be  perfect  co-operation  between  the  Poor  Law  and  the  chari- 
ties in  Rochdale.  The  lack  of  co-operation  is  owing,  as  above  sug- 
gested, to  want  of  thought ;  two  or  three  of  the  charities  keep  entirely 
to  themselves  and  to  what  they  consider  to  be  nobody's  business  but 
their  own.  Thorough  and  all-round  co-operation  with  the  Charity 
Organization  Society,  however,  will,  I  am  inclined  to  think,  be  brought 
about  in  the  near  future,  for  the  subscribers  to  the  various  charities  are 
beginning  to  see  the  need  of  proper  investigation  into  cases ;  and 
already  several  of  the  subscribers  to  one  charity  or  another  hand  over 
to  the  Charity  Organization  Society  for  distribution  the  '-Tetters" 
which  entitle  them  as  subscribers  to  recommend  cases  to  the  charities 
to  which  they  subscribe.  With  advantage  to  all  concerned  the  Benevo- 
lent Society  and  the  Good   Samaritan  Society  might  at  once  be  merged 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  33  I 

into  the   Charity  Organization  Society,  and   I  do  not   see  why  one  or 
two  of  the  other  charitable  agencies  should  not  be  so  merged. 

GENERAL     OBSERVATIONS. 

In  concluding  this  paper,  I  would  point  out  that  if  the  population  of  any 
town  or  district  was  mainly  a  population  of  thriftless  persons  who  cared 
not  how  or  by  what  means  they  were  sustained  in  the  flesh,  so  long  as 
they  were  left  in  the  enjoyment  of  indolence  and  the  vices  which  indo- 
lence is  so  fruitful  of,  there  would  be  an  ever  present  need  for  the  appli- 
cation of  the  best  corrective  measures  and  influences.  If  corrective 
measures  and  influences  were  not  brought  to  bear  upon  such  a  popula- 
tion, the  condition  of  things  would  ultimately  become  too  frightful  to 
describe.  Admitting  this,  it  would  be  consummate  folly  to  allow  that 
there  is  not  an  ever  present  need  for  the  application  of  the  best  cor- 
rective measures  and  influences  where  the  population  is  mainly  a  popu- 
lation possessing  great  virtues.  In  the  opening  part  of  this  paper  I 
have  stated,  and  given  facts  in  support  of  the  statement,  that  the  work- 
ing people  of  Rochdale  "are  a  people  of  sturdy  independence,  and  of 
forethought  and  thrift — a  people  who  have  worked  upwards,  and  who 
no  doubt  will  continue  to  work  upwards."  But  although  this  state- 
ment with  the  facts  adduced  will  bear  the  strictest  investigation,  there 
is  need  at  Rochdale,  as  there  is  everywhere,  for  the  application  of  the 
best  corrective  measures  and  influences,  for  wherever  you  go  is  found 
a  lowest  stratum  of  society,  and  if  it  be  not  wisely  seen  to,  there  can 
never  be  any  guarantee  that  one  of  two  things  may  not  happen,  namely, 
the  quiet  undermining  of  the  virtues  of  the  higher  by  the  lower,  or  an 
upheaval  of  the  lower  to  the  disturbance  and  hurt  of  the  whole  com- 
monwealth. In  England,  so  long  as  the  Poor  Law  remains,  the  wise 
administration  of  that  law  is  bound  to  prove  one  of  the  most  correc- 
tive measures  and  influences  that  can  be  ;  and  if  it  be  not  wisely  admin- 
istered, there  is  no  measure  or  influence  of  a  corrective  nature  which 
is  not  neutralized.  The  provision  which  the  Poor  Law  compels  for  the 
relief  of  destitution  is  practically  a  tax  upon  thrift.  If  the  provision 
be  loosely  dealt  with,  not  only  is  an  injustice  done  to  the  thrifty,  but 
demoralization  sets  in,  which  cuts  two  ways,  the  thrifty,  except  such  as 
have  great  moral  strength,  becoming  demoralized  down  to  thriftless- 
ness,  and  the  always  thriftless  becoming  more  deeply  steeped  in  vice, 
The  poor  law  administration  in  Rochdale  has  not  been  held  up  in  this 
paper  as  a  paragon,  but  it  is  easy  to  conceive  that  if  the  administration 


332         INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

were  a  loose  one,  no  such  figures  as  have  been  given  showing  the  provi- 
sion made  by  the  working  classes  against  sickness,  non-employment, 
and  old  age  could  be  obtained,  for  there  would  not  be  the  same  incen- 
tive to  make  that  provision. 

To  a  wise  administration  of  the  Poor  Law  I  would  add  organized  and 
discriminating  charity  as  one  of  the  most  corrective  influences  that  can 
be  brought  to  bear  where  the  lowest  stratum  of  society  exists.      Disor- 
ganized and  indiscriminate  charity  is  as  baneful  as  would  be  lax  poor 
law  administration.      Such  charity  should  be  called  by  some  other  name, 
for  it  is  not  worthy  of  the  name  of  charity.     It  is  called  '  <  charity, "  it  is 
true,  and   it  is  said   "  charity  never  faileth."      Disorganized  and   indis- 
criminate charity  unquestionably  never  faileth  to  afford  indulgences  for 
the  idle  and  the  vicious,  which  in  the  interest  of  their  present  and  future 
welfare  should   be   determinedly   withheld  from   them.      Should    it   be 
asked,  ''Is   there   a   need    for  charity  at  all  where  there   is  a  State  pro- 
vision for  the  destitute  and  afflicted?",   the  answer,  so  far  as  relates  to 
England,  is   that   the  limitations  to  the  Poor  Law,  as  indicated  in  the 
"  outdoor  relief  prohibitory  order"   and  the   "  outdoor  relief  regula- 
tion order" — limitations  which  could  not  be  prudently  removed — and 
the  disabilities  which  poor  law  relief  carries  with  it  to  the  adult  recipi- 
ent, create  the   need  for  charity.     In   spite  of  their   forethought  and 
thrift,  people  are  sometimes  pushed  down  under  the  surface,  submerged 
by  sheer   misfortune.      It   is  for   charity  to  bring    them   up   again;   and 
when  charity,  with   its  hand  of  strength   and  kindliness,  lays  hold  of 
them,  then  in  the  sense  that   is  highest  and  noblest   it  "never  faileth." 
But  the   "charity"  that  so  never  faileth  must  be  organized,  discrimi- 
native, co-operative,  and   investigative.      It   is  a  mistake  to  think  that 
charity  iS  not  charity  if  it  investigates.      The  wounded  will  gladly  bare 
themselves  to  the  physician;   it  is  the  impostor  who  covers  up  and  when 
questioned  shrinks  away. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION. 


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;^^S        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


Mr.   Alderman  Heape's  Report  on  the  work  done  by  the 
Rochdale  C.   O.   S.   during  years  1880 — 1891. 

The  Rochdale  Charity  Organization  Society  has  now  completed  twelve  years 
of  work,  and  in  addition  to  the  usual  statement  recording  what  has  been  done  dur- 
ing the  past  twelve  months  it  is  proposed  to  analyze  briefly  the  reports  of  each 
year  from  the  commencement  of  the  Society. 

Taking  a  broad  view,  it  may  be  said  that  there  has  been  a  most  striking  con- 
tinuity in  the  procedure  of  the  weekly  meetings  of  the  managing  committee,  and 
the  lines  upon  which  it  was  at  the  first  decided  to  conduct  the  Society  have  proved 
to  be  thoroughly  satisfactory,  yet  there  have  been  developments  in  certain  direc- 
tions and  modifications  in  others,  which  experience  has  dictated,  and  which  it  is 
worth  while  noting. 

The  annual  volume  issued  bv  the  London  Charity  Organization  Society,  con- 
taining the  reports  of  all  the  affiliated  societies  in  the  kingdom,  shows  their  num- 
ber to  be  steadily  increasing,  and  it  is  curious  to  observe  the  very  different  lines 
upon  which  they  are  conducted  ;  it  is  hoped  that  a  statement  of  the  various  modi- 
fications which  have  proved  to  be  desirable  in  the  course  of  twelve  years'  work 
in  a  manufacturing  town  may  not  be  without  interest  as  a  contribution  to  that 
volume. 

On  pages  342  and  343  below  are  a  number  of  diagrams  in  which  each  curve  shows 
the  progress  of  some  particular  phase  of  the  society's  work  for  twelve  consecu- 
tive years. 

Curve  number  i  gives  the  number  of  applications  that  have  been  dealt  with 
by  the  committee.  The  first  year  these  reached  a  total  of  996  ;  the  Society  was 
then  of  course  a  novelty,  and  following  close  upon  the  exhaustion  of  a  relief  fund 
that  had  existed  for  eight  months,  it  was  to  be  expected  that  large  numbers  of  the 
indigent,  and  especially  of  those  who  flock  to  any  centre  where  public  relief  is 
being  dispensed,  would  apply  to  the  new  society  to  see  what  could  be  got  out 
of  it.  Thorough  investigation  proved  that  nearly  half  the  applicants,  41^  per 
cent.,  were  unsuited  for  pecuniary  help,  and  the  effect  of  their  disappointment  is 
seen  in  the  diminished  numbers  of  the  next  two  years,  when  the  applicants  were 
only  752  and  456.  After  three  years  the  Society's  aims  became  better  understood, 
and  there  was  a  gradual  increase  in  the  number  of  cases,  until  in  the  year  1886 
the  applications  reached  1,016,  This  was  due  to  the  fact  that  during  the  winter 
of  1885  a  good  deal  of  distress  existed  in  the  North  of  England  ;  in  several  manu- 
facturing towns  special  relief  funds  were  organized.  Here  such  a  course  was  not 
thought  necessary,  the  existing  organizations  and  private  charity  being  capable  of 
dealing  with  the  emergency.  In  the  two  following  years  trade  became  better, 
and  the  cases  fell  from  i,o[6to839.  In  the  succeeding  year  there  was  some 
amount  of  short  time  in  the  cotton  trade,  which  had  its  effect  upon  the  number  of 
cases,  but  in  Ihe  report  for  that  year  the  increase  is  stated  to  be  due  more  to  the  fact 
of  the  Society's  becoming  better  known  both  by  the  deserving  poor,  who  found  their 
way  directly  to  the  office  in  increasing  numbers,  and  by  householders  making  freer 
use  of  the  Society's  tickets.     This  statement  holds  good  as  a  partial  explanation 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  339 

of  the  rapidly  ascending  curve  of  the  last  two  years,  but  another  factor  must  be 
taken  into  account  which  has  largely  affected  the  result.  In  the  year  1883  a  new 
departure  was  commenced  in  collecting  special  subscriptions  for  a  particular  case, 
■which  it  was  not  considered  desirable  should  be  constantly  assisted  from  the  funds 
of  the  Society.  From  that  time  the  number  of  these  cases  has  steadily,  and  of 
late  rapidly,  increased,  as  is  shown  in  curve  number  8.  During  the  last  year  there 
have  been  320  grants  to  nine  of  these  cases,  and  this  of  course  swells  the  total  of 
the  number  of  applications.  This  branch  of  work  did  not  exist  during  the  first 
four  years,  but  it  seems  likely  to  be  one  that  will  be  permanent,  as  it  has  certainly 
been  proved  to  be  useful  and  important.  The  cases  for  which  these  weekly  pen- 
sions are  organized  are  generally  those  of  invalids  incurably  and  hopelessly  ill, 
or  in  some  instances,  old  people  who  receive  a  small  sum  weekly  from  the  Guar- 
dians. These  could  not  be  constantly  helped  from  the  funds  of  the  Society,  but 
where  the  friends  of  the  recipients  are  wishful  to  supplement  their  little  income 
the  agent  collects  the  subscriptions  and  hands  forward  each  week  the  stipulated 
sum.     Altogether  ^370  has  been  collected  and  disbursed  in  this  way. 

These  pension  cases  also  affect  curves  2  and  3,  which  show  the  number  of  cases 
that  come  each  year  for  the  first  time,  and  those  that  come  more  than  once.  The 
curves  are  tolerably  synchronous,  the  percentage  of  recurrent  cases  being  about 
one-half  the  first  applications  until  the  year  1886  is  reached;  then  for  two  years 
they  are  practically  identical,  but  the  curves  cross,  and  now  the  recurrent  cases 
largely  e.xceed  the  first  applications,  a  result  of  course  mainly  due  to  the  pension 
cases. 

The  curves  No.  4  and  No  9,  which  must  be  looked  at  together,  are  of  con- 
siderable interest.  No.  4  shows  the  number  of  cases  dismissed  each  year  as  'not 
requiring  relief,'  'ineligible,'  'undeserving,'  or  'vagrants.'  This  curve  follows 
roughly  in  its  main  lines  that  (No.  i)  giving  the  total  applications,  but  it  can  be 
seen  at  a  glance  that  it  recedes  farther  away  from  the  main  line  each  year.  The 
full  significance  of  this  is  shown  by  line  number  9,  which  gives  the  percentage 
that  these  cases  bear  to  the  whole  number  each  year,  and  here  it  is  seen,  with  one 
very  trifling  exception,  to  be  a  steadily  diminishing  proportion  each  year,  the 
extreme  figures  being  41.5  per  cent,  in  188c  and  13.7  in  1891.  This  is  a  very 
striking  proof  of  the  discrimination  of  the  professional  loafer  and  vagabond.  He 
has  learnt  that  it  is  no  use  pouring  forth  his  most  heart-rending  tale  into  the  ears 
of  the  agent  at  32  Water  street,  unless  it  is  founded  upon  fact,  for  his  words  are 
meiely  taken  for  what  they  are  worth,  and  thorough  inquiry  is  sure  to  be  made  as 
to  their  truth.  There  is  no  doubt  that  knowledge  of  this  fundamental  rule  of  the 
society  is  now  pretty  widespread  in  the  town. 

Some  of  those  who  solicit  charity  from  door  to  door  refuse  to  accept  the 
enquiry  tickets  for  various  alleged  reasons,  and  of  those  who  accept  them  only  a 
proportion  present  them  at  the  oflice.  It  would  be  a  matter  of  interest  could  it  be 
ascertained  what  proportion  of  the  tickets  accepted  are  never  used.  Household- 
ers are  again  urged  to  refer  each  case  of  which  they  have  not  full  personal  know- 
ledge to  the  office  for  enquiry.  The  necessary  information  is  acquired  in  a  sym- 
pathetic, and  not  in  anv  inquisitorial  manner.  Those  who  need  and  deserve 
helping  do  not  resent  investigation,  and  each  year's  work  but  further  proves  its 
necessity. 

C^urve  No.  5  tabulates  the  amount  of  employment  that  has  been  given  each 
year  at  the  workyard  of  the  society.     For  the  first  two  years,  as  might  be  expected, 


34°        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

good  use  was  made  of  it  as  the  best  way  to  assist  men  out  of  work,  and  as  a  test 
of  the  willingness  of  applicants  to  do  something  for  themselves.  For  the  next 
three  years  the  figures  are  but  small,  an  increase  takes  place  in  1885,  and  in  1S86 
there  is  a  sudden  rise  to  162;  this  is  due  to  the  fact  before  referred  to,  that  in  the 
latter  part  of  1885  (the  period  covered  by  the  report  of  1886)  there  was  a  scarcity 
of  employment  in  the  town,  and  aid  being  given  to  men  out  of  work,  much  use  was 
made  of  the  yard.  From  that  time  the  curve  comes  rapidly  down  to  lower  figures. 
It  may,  in  fact,  be  considered  as  being,  as  far  as  it  goes,  an  indicator  of  the  general 
state  of  employment  afforded  by  the  various  industries  of  the  town,  for  when  relief 
is  given  to  a  family  in  which  there  is  an  able-bodied  man,  some  portion  of  the 
help  is  almost  invariably  given  in  the  form  of  work  for  which  the  man  is  paid. 

The  next  curve,  No.  6,  illustrates  a  phase  of  work  that  has  increased  in  im- 
portance each  year,  1886  being  considered  as  exceptional,  and  shows  how  experi- 
ence gradually  determines  the  most  useful  channels  in  which  aid  can  be  given. 
The  curve  indicates  the  number  of  instances  in  which  help  has  enabled  applicants 
to  receive  the  benefits  of  the  Southport  Convalescent  Home,  the  Rochdale  Infir- 
mary, and  other  institutions.  This  number  has  gradually  increased  from  one  case 
in  the  first  year  to  123  in  the  current  year.  The  wonderful  advantage  that  it  is  to 
convalescents  to  have  the  benefit  of  three  weeks'  residence  at  the  Home  at  South- 
port  is  most  strikingly  proved  each  year.  The  complete  freedom  from  home  cares 
and  surroundings,  and  the  change  of  air  and  diet,  generally  result  in  the  patients 
returning  fit  to  resume  work.  That  the  committee  are  able  to  deal  with  so  many 
of  these  cases  is  due  to  the  liberal  help  afforded  by  the  governors  of  the  Cotton 
Districts  Convalescent  Fund  in  Manchester  ;  to  suitable  cases  they  grant  a  remis- 
sion of  a  portion  of  the  usual  charge,  and  the  committee  would  again  express  to 
them  their  thanks.  The  greatest  number  assisted  are  those  who  have  received 
recommendatory  letters  to  the  Rochdale  Infirmary.  Subscribers  have  sent  their 
letters  to  the  office  for  the  use  of  the  Society,  and  the  committee  are  able  to  ensure 
their  reaching  suitable  recipients.  The  cases  sent  to  various  institutions  during 
the  year  are  as  follows  :  Rochdale  Infirmary,  69  ;  Convalescent  Hospital,  South- 
port, 40;  Devonshire  Hospital,  Buxton,  6;  Ladies' Charity,  4  ;  Mairchester  Royal 
Infirmary,  i  ;  Rochdale  Children's  Home  at  St.  Anne's,  i  ;  Hospital  for  Consump- 
tion, Bowdon,  I  ;   Dr.  Hodgson  for  eye  examination,  i. 

Curve  No.  7  shows  how  much  the  work  of  the  society  has  increased  in  grant- 
ing aid  in  cash  and  food  tickets.  The  curve  commences  at  the  figure  270,  goes  as 
low  as  188  in  the  year  1S82,  and  terminates  in  the  figure  736  for  the  past  year. 
When  it  is  remembered  that  each  of  these  736  cases  has  been  thoroughly  investi- 
gated, and  found  to  be  needing  monetary  help,  it  is  evident  that  a  great  deal  of 
the  temporary  poverty  of  the  town  receives  timely  and  efficient  help  through  the 
medium  of  the  society.  It  is  not  with  chronic  pauperism  that  it  is  sought  to  deal, 
but  principally  with  those  who  have  stumbled  in  the  way,  who  require  a  friendly 
hand  to  lift  them  up  and  to  steady  them  on  their  feet  until  they  are  again  able  to 
walk  alone.  The  very  large  increase  in  this  year's  work  is,  therefore,  rather  indi- 
cative of  much  more  help  being  given  in  this  way  through  the  genuine  cases  reach- 
ing the  society,  than  of  greater  poverty  in  the  town. 

The  average  amount  of  relief  (exclusive  of  hospital  letters  and  clothing) 
given  weekly  to  each  case  assisted  is  5J.  o}(cf.  against  5^-.  2^d.  last  year. 

Fewer  loans  have  been  made  during  the  past  twelve  months  than  the  average 
of  previous   years.      Froin  the    commencement  of  the  Society  ;i^ioo  igs.  has  been 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  34 1 

lent,  in  sums  varying  from  a  few  shillings  to  ;,{^io,  to  42  borrowers.  Of  this  amount 
/73  15.  gd.  has  been  repaid,  £6  os.  lod.  has  been  written  off,  and  ^f  21  i6s.  t,d.  is 
still  owing.  This  the  committee  regards  on  the  whole  as  very  satisfactory.  To 
some  of  the  borrowers  the  loans  have  been  of  great  use,  and  they  have  been 
repaid  with  commendable  regularity;  but  it  is  a  form  of  help  that  is  liable  to 
abuse,  requires  great  care  and  discrimination  in  its  exercise,  and  frequently  a  per- 
sistent pressure  to  ensure  repayment  that  it  is  not  pleasant  to  exert. 

Such  then  is  a  brief  resume  of  the  work  of  the  Society,  which  has  commended 
itself  to  the  judgment  of  a  committee  most  widely  representative,  and  of  which 
the  members  are  frequently  changing;  it  is  clear  that  the  work  falls  into  no  nar- 
row groove  or  stereotyped  method  ;  that  course  alone  is  taken  which  experience 
shows  to  be  the  best,  and  the  committee  again  with  confidence  commend  the 
Society  to  public  approval  and   support. 


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10 

344        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


HELPING  THE  POOR  IN    ABERDEEN. 

BY     GEORGE     MILNE,      SECRETARY     TO     THE     ABERDEEN     ASSOCIATION    FOR 
IMPROVING    THE    CONDITION    OF    THE    POOR. 


Aberdeen  is  a  city  of  125,000  inhabitants,  situated  on  the  east  coast 
of  Scotland  about  135  miles  north  north-east  of  Edinburgh.  It  may  be 
reckoned  the  capital  of  the  North  of  Scotland,  and  is  the  seaport  of  a 
large  agricultural  district. 

Unlike  many  of  the  large  towns  in  England,  or  Dundee  in  Scotland, 
it  has  no  single  industry  that  overshadows  every  other;  and  being  far 
removed  from  the  coal  and  iron  mining  districts  it  is  less  liable  to  those 
industrial  disturbances  that  paralyze  these  trades  and  plunge  vast 
multitudes  of  workers  into  sudden  idleness  with  its  attendant  evils. 

Of  manufactures  Aberdeen  has  a  little  of  many,  including  flax,  jute, 
cotton,  wool,  combs,  paper;  and  among  the  other  industries  of  the 
place  are  the  iron,  granite  monument,  fishing  and  preserved  provision 
works.  The  town  has  within  the  last  thirty  years  been  to  a  consider- 
able extent  rebuilt  and  greatly  enlarged,  a  circumstance  which  accounts 
for  the  steadiness  that  has  usually  prevailed  in  the  various  branches  of 
the  building  trade. 

These  conditions  render  Aberdeen  a  place  of  comparatively  steady 
social  circumstances,  never  suffering  from  the  excitement  of  a  boom  nor 
from  the  depression  of  a  general  collapse.  One  other  characteristic  may 
be  mentioned,  namely,  the  comparative  absence  of  the  wealthy  and 
leisured  class,  and  of  the  most  wretchedly  poor,  who  are  so  frequently 
to  be  met  with  in  our  large  cities.  It  is  thus  favorably  conditioned  for 
giving  a  fair  trial  to  the  principles  of  charity  organization. 

THE    POOR    LAW    IN    SCOTLAND. 

Prior  to  the  year  1845  the  relief  of  the  poor  throughout  Scotland  was 
committed  to  the  Kirk  Sessions  of  the  parish  churches,  and  the  necessary 
income  was  derived  from  a  voluntary  assessment,  though  as  far  back  as 
1576  a  statutory  assessment  could  have  been  enforced,  had  the  circum- 
stances of  any  parish  required  it. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  '  345 

In  the  year  1843,  however,  the  formation  of  the  Free  Church  resulted 
from  the  disruption  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  in  nearly  every  par- 
ish in  the  country  a  sharp  ecclesiastical  division  took  place  which  mate- 
rially affected  the  relations  of  the  people  to  the  parish  Kirk  Sessions. 

In  1845  a  special  act  of  Parliament  was  passed  placing  the  care  of 
the  poor  in  the  hands  of  parochial  boards,  with  powers  of  assessment 
for  their  relief,  and  that  act  continues  in  operation  to   the  present  day. 

The  legal  objects  of  relief  are:  — 

1.  Persons  who  are  disabled  by  sickness  or  accident,  who  are  not 

dependents  of  able-bodied  parents. 

2.  Women  (although  able-bodied)  having  two  or  more  dependent 

children,  or  one  child  under  one  year  old. 

3.  Persons  above  seventy  years  of  age. 

4.  Orphans. 

5.  Lunatics  and  Imbeciles. 

No  able-bodied    men,   nor    able-bodied    women    without   dependent 
children,  are  legal  objects  of  parochial  relief. 

The  City  of  Aberdeen  now  includes  the  parish  of  St.  Nicholas,  the 
greater  part  of  the  parish  of  old  Machar  and  parts  of  the  parishes  of 
Banchory-Devenick  and  Nigg.  The  population  of  the  city  was  in  1851, 
71,973;  1871,  88,125;  1891,  124,943;  and  at  the  same  periods  the 
number  of  paupers  was  in  1851,  2,082;  1871,  1,991;  1891,  1,519. 

In  addition  to  this  legal  provision  for  relief  of  the  poor,  Aberdeen 
possesses  many  private  charities,  medical,  educational,  and  alimentary, 
which  are  managed  by  boards  of  directors  in  terms  of  the  deeds  by 
which  they  have  been  severally  constituted. 

THE  ASSOCIATION  FOR  IMPROVING  THE  CONDITION  OF    THE    POOR. 

It  was  felt  that  there  was  room  for  an  organization  that  would  bring 
help  to  the  struggling  classes,  not  only  by  the  distribution  of  money  or 
goods,  but  by  personal  intercourse. 

Accordingly,  in  1870,  the  "Association  for  Improving  the  Condition 
of  the  Poor"  was  established,  with  the  following  objects: — 

1.  To  obtain  accurate  information  respecting  the  condition  and  cir- 
cumstances of  the  poor  in  the  city  of  Aberdeen  and  neighborhood. 

2.  To  prevent  the  poor  from  sinking  into  a  helpless  condition  of 
poverty,  and  to  endeavor  to  recover  such  as  have  sunk. 

3.  To  discover,  and  as  far  as  possible  remove,  the  temptations  and 
hindrances   in    the    way  of  an  improvement  in  the  condition  of  the  poor. 


346        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

4.  To  encourage  and  foster,  in  every  available  way,  the  efforts  of 
the  poor  to  form  temperate,  frugal,  industrious,  provident,  and  cleanly 
habits. 

5.  To  discourage  mendicity,  and  the  indiscriminate  distribution  of 
charity,  whether  by  individuals  or  societies,  and  to  give  such  informa- 
tion as  may  enable  these  to  administer  their  charity  to  deserving  and 
suitable  objects; — 

6.  To  encourage  and  promote  co-operation  amongst  all  the  charita- 
ble institutions  in  the  neighborhood,  so  as  to  secure  better  classification  of 
objects,  prevent  unnecessary  overlapping,  and  thereby  secure  economy 
in  the  distribution  of  their  charitable  funds. 

For  carrying  out  these  objects,  the  city  was  divided  into  fourteen  sections, 
and  these  again  into  sub-sections  and  allotments,  such  as  could  be  over- 
taken by  individual  visitors,  without  involving  anyone  in  a  burdensome 
amount  of  labor.  The  section  committees  are  composed  of  leading 
citizens,  many  of  whom  also  share  in  the  work  of  visitation.  The  whole 
visiting  staff,  who  are  all  volunteers,  numbers  about  200. 

With  a  large  body  of  volunteers  there  is  usually  some  difficulty  in 
keeping  them  all  up  to  the  standard  of  sound  principle  in  the  discharge 
of  duties  requiring  so  much  tact,  judgment  and  human  sympathy,  and 
to  help  towards  this  end  the  following  instructions  were  issued  to  visitors 
sometime  ago:  — 

I. — Only  cases  of  temporary  necessity  are  contemplated  for  relief 
from  the  funds  of  the  Association. 

2. — Every  case  should  be  carefully  considered  at  the  outset.  If  it  be  evi- 
dent that  the  case  will  require  ultimately  to  be  taken  up  by  the  parochial 
board,  it  should  be  handed  over  to  that  body  at  once.  If,  however, 
there  seems  a  strong  probability  of  it  again  becoming  self-supporting, 
although  somewhat  protracted,  it  may  nevertheless  be  persevered  with  by 
the  Association. 

3. — Cases  of  acute  illness  should  have  the  advantages  of  treatment 
in  the  Royal  Infirmary  pressed  on  their  attention.  The  chances  of  a 
speedy  and  complete  reco\ery  will  thereby  be  increased,  and  the  house- 
hold relieved  so  far  of  the  patient's  maintenance. 

4 — Other  existing  local  charities  should  be  utilized  for  the  benefit 
of  cases,  the  resouirces  of  the  Association  being  made  available  where 
others  fail  or  are  insufficient. 

5. — Information  about  the  local  charities  will  be  supplied  by  the 
secretary. 

6. — Cases  in  which  exceptional  treatment  seems  desirable  will  be 
considered  on  their  merits  by  the  section  committees. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  347 

When  relief  is  granted  out  of  the  funds  of  the  Association,  it  is 
usually  in  the  form  of  provisions,  clothing,  &c.,  rather  than  in  money, 
and  in  periodic  allowances  at  short  intervals  of  a  week  generally. 

If  a  personal  opinion  were  permitted  in  this  connection,  it  would  be  of 
a  critical  kind,  the  result  of  twenty-one  years'  experience  and  observa- 
tion of  the  influence  of  charity  on  its  recipients. 

The  conviction  is  forced  upon  us,  that  charity,  under  its  most  favor- 
able conditions,  "creates  much  of  the  misery  it  seeks  to  relieve,  but 
does  not  relieve  all  the  misery  it  creates." 

The  touch  of  charity  should  be  as  momentary  as  possible,  and  hence 
it  is  our  belief  that  more  good  and  less  harm  would  be  done  if,  in- 
stead of  attempting  to  mitigate  many  cases  of  distress,  we  were 
to  set  ourselves  resolutely  to  cure  the  curable.  By  the  adoption  of 
such  a  policy  the  work  of  our  voluntary  charities  would  tell  more 
effectively  than  they  do,  even  if  the  number  of  cases  were  greatly 
diminished. 

ABLE-BODIED    OUT    OF    WORK. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  Poor  Law  of  Scotland  does  not  recognize 
able-bodied  persons  as  entitled  to  legal  charity,  even  when  they  find  it 
impossible  to  obtain  work.  And  this  necessarily  affects  the  policy  of  such 
associations  in  Scotland,  in  a  direction  in  which  the  English  charity  or- 
ganization societies  have  no  experience. 

In  Aberdeen  we  had  to  meet  this  difficulty  at  a  very  early  period  of 
the  Association's  history.  Applicants  were  numerous  who  pleaded 
utter  destitution  from  want  of  work,  and  the  parochial  boards  could 
render  them  no  assistance.  A  labor  test,  therefore,  became  necessary  to 
protect  the  Association  from  imposition.  The  kind  of  labor  provided 
could  not  be  of  such  a  description  as  required  skill.  Anyone  who  could 
use  his  hands  at  all  must  be  able  to  accomplish  the  task  if  he  be  willing 
to  do  so.  Timber  chopping  for  men  and  knitting  for  women  were  in- 
troduced and  have  answered  the  purpose  of  helping  the  willing,  and  o 
getting  rid  of  the  mere  loafer. 

ORGANIZATION. 

When  this  Association  was  established  there  were  already  in  exist- 
ence, many  institutions  for  relieving  the  different  necessities  of  the  poor, 
each  acting  largely  in  ignorance  of  what  the  others  were  doing. 


348        INTERNATIONAL    CONCRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

Early  in  its  career  this  Association  set  to  work  in  the  direction  of 
charity  organization  and  co-operation,  and  in  the  report  which  was 
prepared  on  the  subject  at  the  time  (1874,)  the  following  statement 
appeared,  viz : 

"  In  the  subjoined  statement  of  the  amount  annually  expended  in 
Aberdeen  by  the  various  public  charities,  which,  through  the  kindness 
of  those  connected  with  them,  the  committee  are  enabled  to  present, 
there  is  a  sufficient  argument  for  the  necessity  of  such  co-operation  as 
would  enable  each  one  to  know  what  the  other  is  doing,  and  thereby 
to  check  unnecessary  overlapping  and  imposition." 


Persons. 

Amount 
Expended. 

Totals. 

I.   Poor  Rates  (for  both  Parishes), 
Less — For  stranger  poor  resid- 
ing   in    the  above    Parishes, 
the  amount  of  which   is   re- 
paid  

2,368 

Cases. 
1,810 
13,200 
1,000 

5,000 

8,028 

^^25,438 
4.245 

^21,193 

2.    Voluntary  Alimentary  Funds* 

Medical  Charities. 

Congregational  Fundst....say, 
Miscellaneous . ., 

^3.613 

7.345 
1,800 

2,152 
1.943 

Exemptions  (complete  or  par- 
tial) from  Poor  Rates 

16,853 
15.390 

3.    Hospitals  (Educational) 

Inmates. 
1,500 

^15.390 

32,906 

Totals 

^53.436 

' 

*  Including  the  Association  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Poor. 
t  "'Exclusive  of  the  amount  contributed  by  the   congregations  of    the   six  city 
churches,  which  is  otlierwise  accounted  for." 


"As  stated  in  the  above  table,  about  ^25,000  (including  ^4,000 
repaid  for  stranger  poor^,  consists  of  poor  rates.  From  ^iq,ooo  to 
^20,000  is  revenue  derived  either  from  invested  capital  or  from  Gov- 
ernment grants  for  industrial  schools;  while  from  ^12,000  to  ^14,000 
is  raised  by  voluntary  subscriptions.     But  the  facts  to  be  considered  are, 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  349 

that  on  the  books  of  the  institutions  included  in  the  above  table,  which, 
although  very  diverse  in  their  character,  still  come  within  the  category 
of  charitable  and  benevolent  institutions,  there  are  about  33,000  names, 
and  that  the  annual  expenditure  is  upwards  of  ^53,000." 

The  approaches  then  made  to  the  various  bodies  for  information  to 
facilitate  the  preparation  of  the  foregoing  statement,  have  been  followed 
by  a  gratifying  amount  of  co- operation  between  this  Association  and  the 
municipal  and  parochial  authorities,  as  well  as  most  of  the  more  pri- 
vate charities. 

The  co-operation  takes  various  forms.  In  some  cases,  the  chairman 
of  our  Association  has  been  made  an  ex-officio  member  of  the  board  or 
committee  of  management;  in  others,  the  secretary  is  invested  with  the 
powers  of  an  administrator,  giving  assistance  in  the  investigation  and 
disposal  of  applications,  while  his  recommendation  of  cases  is  uniformly 
accepted,  and  in  every  case  the  representations  of  the  Association 
receive  the  most  sympathetic  and  respectful  consideration. 

MENDICITY. 

In  the  repression  of  mendicity  the  Association  has  sought  to  instruct 
the  benevolent  in  sound  principles  of  almsgiving,  but  still  the  tide  of 
beggars  flows  on  and  will  continue  to  flow  so  long  as  begging 
meets  with  the  success  which  it  does.  The  evil  can  be  cured  only  by 
making  it  less   profitable   to  beg   than  to  work. 

INTEMPERANCE. 

In  the  work  of  the  Association  during  the  twenty-three  years  of  its 
existence  the  evils  of  intemperance  have  forced  themselves  into  promi- 
nence as  chief  of  the  hindrances  to  the  prevention,  mitigation,  and  cure 
of  poverty.  If  poverty  sometimes  leads  to  intemperance,  intemperance 
much  more  frequently  leads  to  poverty.  Better  social  conditions  may  do 
something  to  lessen  intemperance,  but  the  fact  that  there  are  many 
whose  social  condition  is  known  to  have  been  no  safeguard  leads  to  the 
conviction  that  not  in  one  direction,  but  in  many,  must  we  look  for  the 
improvement  of  the  condition  of  the  poor,  which  we  desire  and  are 
striving  to  bring  about. 


35°        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  POVERTY  IM  AN  ENGLISH  RURAL 

UNION. 

BY  H.   G.     WILLINK,   CHAIRMAN  OF    THE    BKADFIELD    BOARD    OF    GUARDIANS, 

BERKSHIRE. 

Charity  can  scarcely  be  "organized"  in  the  country  in  the  same 
way  as  in  a  town.  There  is  not  the  same  need.  People's  circumstances 
are  better  known,  and  the  amount  of  real  distress  is  not  so  great.  More- 
over, persons  who  accept  '' charity  organization  principles"  are  rarer, 
and  distance  would  in  any  case  hinder  joint  work.  "Overlapping  "  is 
probably  one  of  the  greatest  evils,  and  no  country  committee  could 
really  stop  that.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  writer  is  not  aware  of  any 
really  rural  union  in  which  charity  organization,  as  understood  in 
towns,  has  been  successfully  attempted. 

Nor  is  this  very  much  to  be  regretted  if  the  term  "charity"  is  rightly 
comprehended  by  individuals.  The  letters  ^j-.  d.  do  not  spell  "charity," 
and  there  is  perhaps  no  kind  of  help  more  capable  of  being  really  help- 
ful than  that  which  country  neighbors  can  give.  A  sensible  broad 
minded  rector  or  farmer,  thoroughly  in  touch  with  rich  and  poor,  can 
do  as  much  as  any  committee. 

The  administration  of  the  Poor  Law  in  rural  unions  stands,  however 
on  a  different  basis.  Officially  centralized,  in  official  contact  with  every 
parish,  endowed  with  large  discretionary  authority,  a  Board  of  Guar- 
dians has  almost  unlimited  powers  of  good  and  evil.  Too  often  it  is  an 
obstacle  to  the  growth  among  the  poor  of  those  very  habits  which 
charity  organization ists  most  desire  to  foster.  It  can  set  an  example 
of  indiscriminate  dole-giving,  and  promote  indolence,  improvidence, 
envy,  deceit,  dependence  and  selfishness.  It  can,  by  inadequate,  unsui- 
table "relief"  leave  starvation  unalleviated  while  stimulating  greed.  It 
can  demoralize  him  that  gives  as  well  as  him  that  takes.  It  can  tempt 
the  rich  to  evade  their  proper  responsibilities,  and  can  introduce  log  roll- 
ing into  the  dispensation  of  other  people's  money.  It  can  in  short  do 
everything  which  the  founders  of  the  Poor  Law  intended  that  it  should 
not  do. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  board  can  do  an  almost  infinite  amount  of  good. 
And  the  object  of  this  paper  is   to  give  some  account   of  an  English 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  35  I 

rural  union  in  which  has  been  accomplished  during  the  last  twenty  years 
a  piece  of  poor  law  administration  that  may  fairly  be  regarded  as  hav- 
ing been  essentially  in  harmony  with  charity  organization  principles,  no 
less  by  bracing  up  the  spirit  of  self-reliance  than  by  tending  to  strengthen 
those  ties  of  kinship  and  neighborly  feeling  between  man  and  man, 
which  are  the  very  bonds  of  true  charity. 

Would  that  he  who  was  mainly  instrumental  in  the  work,  Mr.  Bland- 
Garland,  late  chairman  of  the  Board,  were  still  alive  to  describe  it. 

The  Bradfield  Union  comprises  62,650  acres,  situated  five-sixths  in 
Berkshire  and  one-sixth  in  Oxfordshire,  to  the  west  of  Reading,  having 
a  total  rateable  value  in  1892  of  ;i^i 36,979.  The  population,  which  in 
1871  was  15,853,  had  in  1891  risen  to  18,017,  ^^  spite  of  the  transfer  in 
1889  to  the  Reading  Union  of  a  portion  containing  about  1600  inhab- 
itants. There  is  not  any  large  town,  and  the  villages  are  mostly  small 
and  scattered,  there  being  in  1891  only  one  parish  (which  has  two  vil- 
lages) with  a  population  exceeding  3000;  all  the  other  28  parishes  have 
less  than  1500,  and  only  5  of  them  more  than  1000. 

The  occupation  of  the  laboring  classes  is  chiefly  agricultural,  except 
as  regards  such  trades  as  brewing,  brickmaking,  building,  forestry,  corn 
mills,  shop  keeping,  &c.  In  some  parishes  there  is  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  resident  well  to  do  landowners,  while  in  others  there  are  large 
extents  of  moor  and  rough  ground  occupied  in  places  by  small  farmers 
and  by  cottagers  descended  from  squatters.  On  the  high  lands  the  sub- 
soil is  chalk,  or  gravel  on  London  clay,  the  lower  ground  being  prin- 
cipally clay  or,  in  the  valleys,  river  gravel. 

It  is  impossible  to  state  shortly  the  rates  of  farm  wages  with  any  ex- 
actitude, but  they  may  be  taken  to  range  at  present  from  15^.  a  week 
for  the  better  kinds  of  laborers  to  los.  for  the  lower  kinds.  Women 
earn  6^^.  as  a  rule  at  field  work;  charwomen  of  course  get  more.  As 
regards  men,  however,  these  rates  do  not  usually  include  the  very  com- 
mon additional  advantage  of  a  cottage  rent  free,  or  at  a  low  rental, 
generally  with  garden,  nor  the  considerable  earnings  receivable  at 
certain  seasons  in  respect  of  harvesting,  haymaking  and  piece  work, 
ranging  from  14s.  to  25^-.  nor  the  "Michaelmas  money"  of  ^2  or 
^3  according  to  the  class.*     On  the  whole  it  may  be  said  that  a  man 

*  The  old  custom  of  yearly  hiring,  wages  being  paid  throughout,  rain  or  fine, 
sick  or  well,  has  been  larsicly  superseded  by  written  agreements  providing  i/i/dr 
alia  that  wages  shall  cease  to  be  payable  during  disability  caused  by  sickness  or 
accident.  Michaelmas  money  is  not  paid  to  laborers  who  are  earning  extra  money 
at  harvesting,  haymaking  or  piecework. 


JO' 


INTERNA'l'IONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


in  regular  employment  at  a  nominal  12s.  a  week  really  gets  something 
more  like  17^.  a  week  on  a  year's  average,  without  taking  into  account 
the  produce  of  gardens  and  cheap  allotments,  the  latter  being  rented 
usually  at  from  ly^d.  to  3^/.  per  pole,  including  rates,  tithe,  &c.  In 
many  households,  of  course,  the  boy's  earnings  form  a  substantial  addi- 
tion to  the  family  income. 

Other  wages  run,  roughly  speaking,  as  follows,  viz.,  building  trade 
from  365.  to  i8s.  bd.;  brick  kilns  from  25^^.  to  i8.y. ;  breweries  from  25 j. 
to  I5J-.  with  3  pints  of  beer  per  day;  corn  mills  from  24^-.  to  i8i-.  and 
often  a  cottage  rent  free;  railway  laborers  about  i8j.  Another  large 
field  of  labor  is  afforded  by  the  wood  lands,  the  weekly  earnings  averag- 
ing about  145-.  to  i6j'.,  with  the  advantage  of  being  earned  at  seasons 
when  Other  work  is  scarce.* 

Cottage  rents  vary  as  much  as  do  wages,  the  highest  rented  cottages 
being  by  no  means  necessarily  the  best,  for,  as  usual,  the  small  land- 
lords and  small  farmers  can  generally  least  afford  to  be  liberal.  From 
TyS.  (yd.  to  li-.  bd.  or  even  lower,  is  probably  a  fair  statement  of  the 
extremes ;  \s.  6d.  is  an  average  rent  for  a  cottage  and  garden  on 
the  larger  estates.  As  above  stated,  there  are  some  cases  where  squat- 
ter cottages  exist.  These  are  either  held  at  low  rentals,  or  are  prac- 
tically freehold.  They  are,  for  the  most  part,  wretched  little  one-story, 
ill  built  tenements,  often  sadly  overcrowded  and  sometimes  falling  into 
decay.  The  people,  however,  are  attached  to  them,  and  indeed  in 
many  instances  prefer  them  to  the  better-constructed  dwellings  erected 
by  good  landlords,  which  are  probably  as  good  as  the  same  class  of 
habitation  all  over  England. 

The  character  of  the  district  having  thus  been  stated  in  general  terms, 
the  reader  will  be  better  able  to  appreciate  the  following  account  of  the 
poor  law  administration. 

On  ist  January,  1871,  there  were  in  receipt  of  poor  relief  999  out- 
door and  259  indoor  paupers,  (exclusive  of  lunatics  in  asylums  and 
vagrants),  a  total  of  1258,  or  one  in  thirteen  (7.7  per  cent.)  of  the  then 
population.  The  total  poor  law  expenditure  for  the  year  was  ^10,865, 
and  the  poor  rate  stood  at  24^  (^/.  in  the  pound,  entailing  a  cost  of  it,s. 
8j4d.  per  head  of  the  population. 

On  ist  January,  1893,  the  corresponding  figures  were  as  follows,  viz., 
outdoor  paupers  22,  indoor  99,  total  121,  or  1  in  148  (0.67  per  cent.), 

*  In  Appendix  A  will  be  found   a  more  detailed   statement  of  the  wages  in  the 
various  trades. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  35.^ 

expenditure  during  the  preceding  year  ^1995,  poor  rate   t,}4<^.,  cost 
per  head  of  population  2s.  214//.* 

These  figures  (the  scope  of  which  is  perhaps  more  clearly  seen  from 
the  diagram  in  Appendix  C)  do  not,  remarkable  as  they  are,  suffice  of 
themselves  to  show  that  the  change  of  system  has  been  successful  in  the 
true  sense  of  the  word.  If  they  signified  that  there  had  merely  been  a 
blind  withholding  of  needful  relief,  and  that  in  1892  the  poor  were 
actually  worse  off  by  ^9000  than  in  1870,  they  would  point  rather  to 
failure  than  to  success.  If,  again,  it  could  be  shown  that  the  ^9000  had 
been  distributed  in  alms  instead  of  in  poor  law  relief,  the  outcome 
would  appear  to  have  been  little  more  than  a  displacement  of  burden 
from  public  responsible  shoulders  to  those  of  private  individuals;  though 
there  would  be  something  to  be  said  even  for  this  result,  since  charita- 
ble gifts  are  less  pauperizing  than  poor  law  relief,  inasmuch  as  they 
do  not  create  a  feeling  of  claim  as  of  light. 

But  if  the  reduction  of  relief  has  been  gradually  made,  and  no  appli- 
cations have  been  refused  without  careful  investigation  ;  if,  as  is  generally 
admitted,  the  present  condition  of  the  poor  is  no  worse,  but  decidedly 
better  than  under  the  old  system,  and  bears  comparison  with  the  con- 
dition of  the  poor  in  other  similar  districts  ;  if  while  there  may  have 
been  some  increa.se  of  individual  voluntary  aid,  such  increase  includes 
increased  assistance  from  non-chargeable  relatives,  and  from  other  per- 
sons (such  as  employers),  upon  whom  there  are  only  moral  claims  ;  if,  as 
is  certain,  there  has  been  a  marked  growth  of  friendly  societies,  doctor's 
clubs,  savings  bank  accounts,  and  other  signs  of  thrift,  then  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  the  poor  law  figures  do  represent  a  real  advance,  and  that  they 
testify  to  the  success  of  a  work  which  by  raising  the  poor  to  a  position 
of  greater  independence  is  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  true 
charity  organization. 

It  is  sometimes  objected  that  the  work  would  have  been  impossible 
but  for  the  general  prosperity  of  the  country  and  greater  cheapness  of 
living.  This  may  possibly  be  quite  true  ;  at  any  rate  the  general  im- 
provement of  circumstances  has  been  a  factor  which  must  not  be  for- 
gotten.t     But  this  only  shows,  if  it  shows  anything,  that  other  unions 

*  P'or  statistics  as  to  neighboring  unions,  see  Appendix  B. 

t  Agricultural  wages  seem  to  have  risen  but  little,  if  at  all.  Labor  in  other 
trades  is  better  paid.  The  prices  of  most  necessaries  have  fallen,  c.  g.  the 
4  lb.  loaf  cost  -jd.  in  1873,  '"  '^93  '"^  ^°^^  A/i^.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
standard  of  living  is  higher  than  it  used  to  be. 

23 


554 


IN  I'ERXATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARIJIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


could   have  done   the  same,  not   that  Bradfield   has  been  wrong  or  has 
not  done  anything. 

Unfortunately  there  is  some  difficulty  in  getting  exact  statistics  as  to 
absence  of  hardship.  The  case  must  rest  upon  the  statements  of  per- 
sons living  in  the  district,  and  their  opinions  will  vary  according  as 
they  approve  or  disapprove  of  outdoor  relief.  There  always  will  be 
people  who  would  like  to  have  out-relief  if  they  could  get  it,  as  well  as 
people  who  would  like  to  be  saved  the  trouble  and  the  direct  expense  of 
taking  an  active  part  in  trying  to  help  their  kinsfolk  and  neighbors. 
And  there  are  still  some  people  who  honestly  think  that  public  relief  is 
in  itself  better  than  private  charity.  Moreover  there  is,  no  doubt,  as 
there  has  always  been  and  always  will  be,  a  certain  amount  of  real 
poverty  in  the  union.  So  long  as  men,  especially  young  men,  spend 
all  they  get,  so  long  as  people  marry  before  they  can  afford  it,  so  long- 
as  there  are  bad  workmen,  and  so  long  as  drink  maintains  its  attrac- 
tions, there  must  be  poverty.  Consequences  will  follow  causes.  But 
poverty  is  not  more  likely  to  come  when  men  realize  that  they 
can  themselves  provide  against  it;*  and  that  if  they  do  not  do  so 
they  cannot  reckon  upon  others  saving  them  from  the  results.  It  is 
a  significant  fact  that  the  late  chairman's  successor  was  elected  upon 
the  express  understanding  that  the  policy  of  the  board  should  be 
continued,  and  no  suggestion  has  since  been  made  that  that  policy 
should  be  changed. 

The  present  condition  of  the  union  may  be  judged  in  various  ways. 
To  take  as  a  sample  one  parish,  the  population  of  which  was  1327  in 
1891,  there  were  on  ist  January,  1893,  in  the  workhouse  12  persons 
belonging  to  the  parish  (5  being  above  65  years  of  age,  and  3  being 
children),  and  on  the  out-relief  list  4,  all  these  latter  being  survivals 
from  the  old  times.  It  is  not  possible  to  give  detailed  statistics  of  any 
firm  value  as  to  the  numbers  and  condition  of  the  rest  of  the  poorer 
classes,  or  the  causes  of  their  poverty.  But  of  those  persons  (widows, 
widowers  or  old  married  people)  who  are  unable  to  support  them- 
selves, there  are,  beside  those  known  to  be  receiving  more  or  less 
substantial  help  in  charity,  many  who  are  practically  supported  by 
their  own  relations.  There  are  several  endowed  charities,  viz.,  one  of 
about  ^25  a  year  applicable  to  the  apprenticing  of  boys  to  some 
useful  trade;  one  of  about  ^3  los.  applicable    in   donations  for   special 


*  See    Appendix  E. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  355 

cases;  two  others  of  about  -£^\2  each,  distributed  once  a  year  in  doles 
among  lo  ])oor  men  and  lo  poor  women;  and  lastly,  almshouses 
capable  of  accommodating  3  old  women. 

There  are  a  clothing  club,  a  boot  and  shoe  club,  and  a  coal  club. 
A  medical  club  has  long  been  in  existence,  the  members  of  which,  num- 
bering over  100,  are  by  a  yearly  payment  of  ^s.  for  adults  and  2s.  for 
children  entitled  to  attendance  free.  A  parish  nurse  is  just  completing 
her  first  year,  and  there  has  not  been  one  instance  in  which  difficulty 
has  been  made  as  to  payment  of  her  small  fees,  though,  of  course,  the 
expenses  are  chiefly  met  by  private  subscriptions.  An  Oddfellows 
Lodge,  of  many  years  standing,  now  has  about  145  members;  it  is 
entirely  self-managed  without  the  aid  of  the  gentry,  except  that  one 
acts  as  treasurer,  and  has  more  than  ^900  invested  in  sound  securi- 
ties. A  schools  penny  bank  has  about  150  subscribers,  with  a  total 
balance  of  about  _^ 80  deposits,  in  the  Post  Office.  Interest  at  \d.  on 
each  complete  pound  per  month  is  allowed.  The  number  of  private 
savings  bank  accounts  cannot  be  stated,  but  the  writer  knows  of  several. 
There  are  three  voluntary  schools,  two  of  which  are  supported  to  some 
extent  by  a  voluntary  rate,  the  third  being  endowed.  There  are  two 
village  and  one  junior,  cricket  clubs.  There  is  a  Horticultural  Society, 
at  whose  annual  show  the  cottagers  and  allotment  holders  compete  in 
large  numbers.  Allotments  in  three  or  four  different  places  are  to  be 
had  at  from  \d.  to  2d.  per  pole  according  to  situation.  A  working- 
men's  club,  self-managed,  is  in  a  prosperous  condition.  It  is  not 
teetotal,  but  for  a  long  time  there  has  been  no  complaint.  Lastly,  at  a 
recent  sale  of  cottage  property,  chiefly  of  the  squatter  class  before  men- 
tioned, no  less  than  fourteen  were  purchased  by  cottagers,  money  being 
borrowed  for  the  purpose  in  (it   is  believed)  only  four  cases. 

If  it  is  said  that  this  may  be  an  exceptional  parish,  as  being  the  one 
in  which  the  late  chairman  of  the  board  lixed  for  twenty  years,  the  writer 
can  only  say  he  does  not  believe  it  is  exceptional,  at  any  rate  as  re- 
gards the  general  condition  of  the  people,  though  the  smaller  parishes 
can  i)robably  not  show  quite  so  good  a  roll  of  special  advantages.*  In 
other  parishes  there  are  similar  signs  of  a  healthy  independence.  For 
instance,  a  group  of  three  small  contiguous  parishes,  numbering  together 
only  I  TOO,  has  jjossessed   for  \ery  many  years  a  benefit  society  which 

*  In  Appendix  1)  will  be  found  some  tabulated  information  as   to  other  parishes 
in  the  union. 


356         INTERNA  IIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

has,  with  a  present  membership  of  103,  no  less  than ^1230  invested, 
and  has  recently  been  pronounced  by  a  competent  actuary  to  be  on 
so  sound  a  basis  that  part  of  the  fund  may  be  applied  towards  pro- 
vision for  old  age.  In  some  parts  of  the  union  the  Oddfellows,  in  others 
the  Foresters,  in  others  the  Hearts  of  Oak,  in  others  the  Berkshire 
Friendly  Society  predominate;  but  there  can  be  few,  if  any,  in  which 
thrift  is  not  apparent  in  some  form.  Even  the  public  house  clubs,  bad 
as  they  are  (and  they  are  giving  way  to  better),  point  to  a  habit  of  liv- 
ing within  income.  Not  that  thrift  implies  every  virtue  ;  but  its  ab- 
sence makes  the  practice  of  others  very  difficult  among  the  poor. 

The  real  danger,  perhaps,  lies  in  the  direction  of  an  exuberance  of 
private  alms-giving  with  the  accompanying  evil  of  mendicity,  or  at  all 
events  expectation  of  alms.  The  parishes  where  there  are  fewest  rich 
residents  are  not  always  those  which  furnish  the  largest  number  of  pau- 
pers in  proportion  to  their  population.  There  is  in  some  places  a 
tendency  among  benevolent  people  to  relieve  the  merely  "poor"  from 
the  duty  of  providing  the  necessaries  of  life.  It  is  quite  right  that 
individual  cases  of  real  distress  should  be  liberally  helped,  with  care 
and  discrimination.  Nor  can  it  be  wrong  for  the  rich  to  assist  the 
poor  to  obtain  certain  advantages  which,  while  not  strictly  necessaries, 
are  nevertheless  of  real  benefit  to  them  and  would  otherwise  be  beyond 
their  reach.  For  instance,  a  trained  nurse  cannot  possibly  be  main- 
tained solely  out  of  the  fees  which  poor  country  people  can  afford  to 
pay.  Yet  so  long  as  they  do  pay  something  her  services  may  wisely 
be  secured,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  the  comfort  which  they  bring,  but 
because  of  the  teaching  which  insensibly  accompanies  them.  Again, 
a  well  managed  horticultural  society  can  do  so  much  to  encourage 
proper  gardening  and  husbandry,  that  money  spent  in  supporting  it 
cannot  do  anything  but  good.  On  the  other  hand,  funds  raised  to 
enable  whole  classes  of  poor  to  purchase  at  less  than  cost-price  articles 
(such  as  coals,  clothing,  or  food),  which  would  otherwise  have  to  be 
bought  in  the  usual  way,  are  open  to  the  objections  against  benevo- 
lent trading.  And  the  same  is  true,  in  its  degree,  of  the  practice  of 
subsidizing  interest  on  savings.  The  most  that  can  be  said  for  these 
things  is  that  they  are  less  harmful  in  proportion  to  the  amount  contri- 
buted by  the  recipients,  and  that  in  so  far  as  they  induce  self-denial  by 
extracting  periodical  deposits,  or  as  they  bring  rich  and  poor  together 
in  the  transaction  of  necessary  business,  they  do  have  a  good  effect. 
But  these  merits  are  not  peculiar  to  these  forms  of  action  ;   and   it  must 


CHARll'Y    ORGANIZATION.  357 

not  be  forgotten  that  there  is  difficulty  in  confining  the  dispensation  of 
these  funds  within  proper  limits  ;  so  that  there  is  always  a  tendency  to 
admit  to  participation  in  them  individuals  who  ought  to  be  able  to 
do  without  them.  It  is  in  the  direction  of  a  wise  ordering  of  these 
kinds  of  assistance  that  the  influence  of  those  who  aim  at  promoting  the 
well-being  of  the  poor  in  rural  districts  may  be  applied.  The  object  of 
charity  is  to  relieve  not  the  giver  but  the  receiver,  and  so  to  relieve  as 
to  remove  the  causes  of  distress  and  not  to  perpetuate  them. 

But  to  return  to  the  Bradfield  Union.  Another  test  of  the  working 
of  its  system  may  be  applied  by  analyzing  the  indoor  pauperism. 

Of  the  99  indoor  paupers  on  ist  January,  1893,  59  were  male  and 
40  female;  33  were  children  under  16,  and  36  were  old  people  over  65, 
28  of  whom  were  males  and  8  females.  Of  the  children  2  were  orphans 
having  lost  both  parents,  3  deserted  by  both  or  the  only  surviving 
parent,  and  8  illegitimate.  Of  the  total  number  of  inmates  17  were 
in  the  infirmary  on  the  doctor's  book  and  8  others  were  imbecile. 
There  were  10  classed  as  able-bodied,  9  women,  i  man.  This  man, 
aged  44,  who  has  since  gone  out,  is  of  the  casual  class  and  unmarried  ; 
his  father  and  uncle  were  then  in  the  workhouse.  Of  the  9  women,  5 
had  illegitimate  children,  3  were  weak-minded  or  subject  to  fits,  and  the 
husband  of  i  was  in  gaol. 

Again,  these  inmates-  may  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  families,  not 
individuals.  Viewed  in  this  way,  the  indoor  pauperism  reduces  itself 
to  74,  and  even  these  74  families  were  to  some  extent  inter-related,  and 
in  several  cases  are  of  pauper  descent  or  connection.  It  is  hard  to 
believe  that  any  poor  law  administration  could  produce  better  results 
on  a  total  population  of  over  18,000. 

To  sum  up,  unless  it  can  be  shown  [a)  that  the  poorer  classes  are 
worse  off  in  Bradfield  than  elsewhere,  or  (_/;)  that  if  not,  private  charity 
has  reached  an  excessive  pitch  and  is  a  worse  form  of  assistance  than 
outdoor  relief,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  board  have  proved  them- 
selves true  guardians  of  the  poor. 

As  to  the  latter  point,  those  who  hold  charity  organization  princi 
])les,  and  consider  that  reliance  upon  State  or  rate  funds  is  fatal  to 
independence,  will  agree  that  private  charity  must  indeed  be  badly  and 
lavishly  bestowed  if  it  can  do  as  much  harm  as  out-relief;  while  as  to 
the  former  point,  this  paper  will  have  failed  in  its  object  if  it  has  not 
convinced  the  reader  that   the  laborer's  position  in  the  Bradfield  Union 


35<'^        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

is  not  below  the  average  standard  of  comfort  in  that  part  of  England  * 
from  youth  to  age,  and  that  in  the  absence  of  great  social  or  commer- 
cial disturbances  everything  points  to  a  progressive  amelioration  of  the 
present  satisfactory  conditions. 


*  Before  this  paper  is  printed  will  be  published  the  Bluebooks  containing 
the  Report  of  the  Assistant  Commissioner  upon  the  condition  of  the  agricul- 
tural laborer.  Bradfield  was  not  among  the  unions  selected  for  investigation, 
but  the  adjoining  union  of  Basingstoke  and  the  union  of  Wantage  were  visited, 
and  the  Reports  will  no  doubt  be  full  of  information.  They  can  be  obtained  from 
King  &  Son,  King  Street,  Westminster.  There  are  about  12  series,  each  costing 
from  I  to  2  shillings. 


CHAR  IT  V    UK(;ANIZAriON. 


559 


APPENDIX    A. 
Current  Wages  in  Bradfield  Union.    1893. 

Agricultural:  Per  week. 

Carters,  13/ to  15/ -|-   cottage  -|-    harvest  and  extras. 

equivalent  altogether  to  about 1  7/ to  20/ 

Under  carters,  9/  to  13/  -j-  harvest  and  extras,  equiva- 
lent altogether  to  about 1  2/  to  15/ 

Stockmen,  (young  men  generally)  12/  to  14/  -[~  cot- 
tage -|-  harvest  and  extras,  ecjuivalent  to  about 17/  to  19/ 

Mill  men  and  machine  men 16/  to  22/ 

Farm  laborers,  first  class,    15/  -|-  harvest  and   extras, 

Csometimes  cottage) 16/ to  18/ 

Field  hands,  12/  to  13/  -f-  harvest  and  extras 14/  to  16/ 

Rickbuilders  and  Thatchers 1 6/  to  17/ 

Building:  Per  week. 

7c/.  per  hour,  equivalent  say  to      32/ 


Bricklayers, 
Stone  masons. 

^d. 

8 

Plasterers, 

8 

Carpenters, 
Plumbers, 

7 
7^ 

Painters, 

6^ 

Plumbers'  mates 

,43^ 

Laborers, 

4 

-loing: 
Tun  men, 

1 

Enginemen, 

Coopers, 

Head  Maltsters, 

1 

Krc 

1 

J 

( i 
i  I 

i  I 


36/8 
36/8 

32/ 

34/3 
29/9 

20/6 

18/4    j 


Chiefly 
V  Summer 
Work. 


^from  20/  to  25/  per  week. 


Ordinary  laborers,  -\ 

e.  g. ,    Cleaners,  y  from  1 5/  to  1 8/ 


[also  3  pints  per  day 


..i 


Draymen,     &( 
C'ornmi/ls: 

Foremen,  30/  -\-  cottage,  equivalent  (say)  to 7,2/6  per  week. 

Purifiermen,  Rollermen,  24/  -j-  cottage,  equivalent 

(say)  to 26/ 

Carters,  20/  -|-  cottage 22/ 

Sack  carriers  and  general  millers 18/  " 

Briik  Kilns  from  18/1025/ 

IsoTK. —  During  the   last    ::o    vears   wages    have   not   varied    niucli    as   regards 
agricultural  labor. 

In  the  brewing  and  cornmilling  trades  they  have  risen  lo  per  cent. 


<  i 


360         INTERNA  IIONAL    CONGRESS    OK    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


APPENDIX    B. 

Percentage   of  Indoor  and   Outdoor   Poor  (excluding  vagrants)  on   the 
population  of  twelve  Berkshire  Unions. 


Union. 


Abingdon 

Bradfield 

Cookham 

Easthampstead. 

Faringdon 

Hungerford 

Newbury 

Reading 

Wallingford  .... 


Population  !  Percentage  of  In-  I  Percentage  of  Out- 
door poor  on  the  door  poor  on  the 
Population.             |        Population. 


Wantage. 


Windsor. 


Wokingham. 


19,612 

0.80 

i-73 

18,017 

0.61 

0. 14 

20,468 

0.86 

2.91 

i3'7i7 

0.78 

2.03 

i3>544 

0.80 

2-37 

17,017 

0.63 

3.22 

21,677 

0.90 

1.97 

60,054 

0.85 

0.28 

14,706 

l.OI 

0.66 

16,544 

0-57 

2.80 

35>649 

0-75 

113 

i7>347 

0.72 

2.01 

268,352 

0.79 

1.50 

CHAR]  I'V    ORGANIZA HON. 


361 


APPENDIX    C 


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362 


INTERNA  riONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARIIIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


APPENDIX    D. 
Fou-R  Parishes   in   the   Bradfield  Union. 


Par- 
ish. 


Area 
in 

Acres 


I    Paupers 
Popu-''J^"-''^93- 
lation. 
1891       In-   I  Out- 
door. 1  door. 


B 


D 


4237 


1327 


1175 


277 


Other 

poor 

dependent 
on  rela- 
tives or 

friends  or 
charity. 


Endowed 
Charities. 


The  district  really 
forms  part  of  a  larger 
parish,  though  it  is  for 
most  purposes  distinct, 
and  there  are  no  sepa- 
rate returns  * 


989 


159 


a-ji 


2  oJ  0)  t. 

ai  o  O  O^ 

'   "   c  c  c 

S  n!  '^ 


C8 

«     p., 


Clothing-, 

coal  and 

similar 

Clubs. 


Doctors 
clubs. 


0) 


V  '^s?s?s?< 


.2  0.C-2- 


5|   ^ 


of  whom 
2  are  cer- 
tainly sup- 
ported 
entirely  by 
relatives. 


1     1 
<a      r. 


C3 
>,  O 


38  (over  65) 

of  whom 
15  are  cer- 
tainly en- 
tirely sup- 
ported by 
relatives. 


2  (widows); 
one  is 

supported 
entirely  by 

relatives. 


i.  Rent  of 

parish 

land 

applied  in 

coals, 
ii.  Alms- 
houses for 
3- 


a.  £V1  a  yr. 

School  and 

Poor. 

b.  £\  Ws. 
Calico. 


Clothing 
club. 


One. 

55-.  per 
head  per 

annum 
for  adult 

IS.  for 
children. 
Member- 
ship 
over  100. 


Parish 
Nurse. 


One. 
Much 
same 

as 
above. 


Clothing 

club. 

Coal  club. 

"Relief 

club." 


One. 


Clothing 
Club. 
8  members 
Subsi- 
dized. 


One. 

&ci.  per 

quarter. 


'  One. 
Paid 
out  of 
(a)  fees 
{b)  sub- 
scrip- 
tions. 


No. 


No. 


No. 


27^ 


♦The  returns  for  this  large  parish  are  as  follows: 
Outdoor  I. 


Area  4848,  Pop.  3154,  Paupers,  Indoor 


CHARITV    ORGANIZAIION. 


363 


APPENDIX  1).— Continued. 


Friendly 
Society. 

1 

Pennv                9 
Bank.                .5 

u 

1 

Work- 
ing- 
men's 
Club 

Allot- 
ments. 

Remarks. 

Oddfello'cvs. 
Membership 

MS- 

Invested 

Funds  over 

Berks 

Friendly. 

Membership 

8. 

Three 

In  all                fl 
schools.         \o'""- 
Member-         ,^„'*'">'; 
ship  about        ^;^'[a' 

Balance           '^'"e" 
in  hand           ,  "" 

-•-^«°-          aSotf 
300. 

Three 
and  a 

Junior. 

Yes, 
very 
v?ell 

sup- 
ported. 

Yes. 
Non- 
tee- 
total, 
self 
man- 
aged. 

Yes. 
In  -s,  or 

places, 
from 
\d.  to 

id.  per 
pole. 

Occupation 
chiefly  agri- 
cultural and 
forestrv.    A 
straggling 
parish,  3  or  4 
good  sized, 
and  6  or  7 
smaller, 
gentlemen's 
houses,  I  large 

flour  mill. 

Cottage  rents 

from  \s.  to  3J. 

kd.     A  good 

many  small 

freeholders. 

A  joint 
Society  com- 
mon to  three 
small 
Parishes. 
Membership 
(all  3 
Parishes) 

J03. 

Invested 

Funds  over 

;^I200. 

One. 

Volun- 
Started  in         tarv. 
Dec.  1801.          Chil- 
Member-          dren 
ship  about          on 
40.          ;      books 
about 
60. 

1 

One. 

No. 

No. 

None. 

Occupation 
chiefly  agri- 
cultural. 
One  good 

sized 

brewery. 

No  freehold 

cottages. 

No  squatters. 

Only  one 

large  house 

&  the  rectory 

Foresters. 
Member.ship 
200.  Invested 
funds   about 

^600. 
Oddfelloivs. 
G.  W.  Rail- 
zvay  Benevo- 
lent Society. 
Juvenile  For- 
esters and 
other  clubs. 

Yes. 
Doing 
well. 

One 
senior, 

one 
junior 
and  a 
foot- 
ball 
club. 

No. 

Yes. 

Non- 
tee- 
total. 

Yes. 

at  ■>,d. 

per 

pole, 

but  not 

all 
taken. 

Five  good 
farms,  brick 

kilns,  mar- 
ket gardens. 

Many  men 

work  in 

Reading,    or 

on  the  rail- 
way or  river. 
Cottage 

rents  from 
IS.  6  to  7J.  6. 

District  Benefit 
Society. 

21  Parishioner 
members. 

Total  No.  of 
members 
about  25U. 

Total  funds 

;C1000. 

No. 

Voluntary, 

30  on 

books. 

No. 

In  neigh- 
boring 

pari.sh,  a 

few         ;         No. 

parishi- 
oners 

exhibit. 

About 
5  acres 

at  la", 
per 

pole. 

Occupation 

agricultural. 

Two  farmers. 

Three  freehold 

cottagers. 
No  squatters. 
No  gentry  be- 
sides the  far- 
mers and  the 
parsoi).    Cot- 
tage rents 
from  1.5'.  to  Ijr. 
^d.  a  week. 

364        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHAKlllES    AND    CORRECTION. 


APPENDIX    E. 

Table  showing  means  available  for  providing  against  sickness  and  old 
age,  (the  figures  being  only  selected  specimens  from  a  number 
of  various  tables.) 


Oddfellows: 

A  young  man  joining  at  the  age  of  18  may  by  weekly  payments 
of  65^^.  secure  a  sick  allowance  of  12/  per  week  for  the  first  6 
months  of  sickness  and  6/  per  week  afterwards,  with  -£\  2  on 
death,  and  ^6  on  death  of  his  wife. 

Berkshire  Friendlx  Society: 

Such  a  man  may  by  payments  of  id.  per  month  during  his  life 
secure  a  sick  allowance  of  4/  per  week  at  any  time  during  his  life. 
For  1/  per  month  he  will  be  entitled  to  6/  per  week  in  sickness  up 
to  70  and  a  pension  of  3/  per  week  after  that  age. 

Private  Saving: 

A  lad  beginning  to  save  at  17  may  by  putting  away  weekly 
sums  increasing  gradually  from  3^/.  to  1/6  find  himself  at  25  in 
possession  of  ^^25,  without  including  interim  interest  receivable. 
By  saving  sums  rising  similarly  from  6d.  to  2/6,  he  would  have 
accumulated  ^43,  exclusive  of  interest,  by  the  same  age. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  365 


CHARITY    OR(rANIZATlON    IN    RELATION    TO    VOLUNTARY 

EFFORT. 

BY  THE  REV.  BROOKE  LAMBERT,  M.  A.,  B.  C.  L. ,  VICAR  OF  GREENWICH, 

LONDON. 

A  cynic  has  told  us  that  when  the  virtues  met  in  a  better  sphere. 
Charity  asked  to  be  introduced  to  Gratitude  ;  they  had  never,  they 
said,  met  before.  The  cynic  is  wrong,  as  cynics  generally  are.  He 
has  mistaken  so-called  Good  Nature  for  Charity,  and  as  for  Gratitude, 
which  he  tells  us  elsewhere  in  the  History  of  Human  Weakness  is  the 
expectation  of  future  favors,  he  has  not  seen  her.  Yet  I  should  like 
to  make  his  parable  true  by  saying  that  Charity  and  Commonsense  were 
strangers  till  they  met  at  15  Buckingham  Street.* 

In  saying  this  I  am  by  no  means  claiming  for  the  Charity  Organiza- 
tion Society  any  more  than  I  claim  for  any  other  good  movement.  The 
genesis  of  all  movements  which  are  destined  to  prevail  is  the  same.  First, 
there  is  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  and  some  fev/  go  out 
to  hear  him.  But  he  dies  the  martyr's  death.  Then  his  big  message  is 
caught  up  by  minor  prophets,  till  by  degrees  the  conscience  of  mankind 
is  awakened.  Then  there  comes  a  movement  which  gives  voice  to  half 
formed,  half  expressed  notions.  Such  has  been  the  story  of  charity  or- 
ganization. It  is  the  result  of  many  prophets'  work.  It  has  succeeded 
at  last  in  introducing  Commonsense  to  Charity.  Charity  so-called  had 
long  sought  to  better  mankind,  but  Charity  such  as  we  know  is  human, 
and  therefore  fallible.  She  needed  to  learn  of  Him  who  visited  a  pool 
at  Bethesda  and  saw  a  multitude  of  sick  folk,  and  healed  only  one. 
Commonsense  met  her  and  explained  this  apparently  eccentric  exercise 
of  mercy,  showed  her  that  poverty  like  disease  had  many  causes,  and 
that  it  was  mere  waste  of  power  to  help  those  who  would  afterwards  fall 
back  into  the  same  condition.  Commonsense  made  her  understand 
that  there  was  a  "worse  thing"even  than  thirty-eight  years  suffering,  that 
character  was  more  precious  than  comfort,  that  self-restraint  was  cheaply 
purchased  at  the  cost  of  suffering.     For  commonsense  is  educated  judg- 

*  Office  of  Charity  C)rganization  Society.  London. 


366        INIERNAI'IONAL    CONGRESS    Ol"    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

ment,  and   is  not  to  Ije  mistaken  for  that  enapirical  instinct  which  often 
breeds  nonsense. 

I  learn  that  in  other  papers  which  are  to  he  presented  to  this  Con- 
gress it  will  have  been  laid  down  that  there  is  a  sphere  for  voluntary 
effort.  I  ijresume  that  it  will  have  been  shown  that  there  is  a  sphere  in 
which  it  can  profitably  work,  that  there  are  cases  which  must  be  left  to 
legal  treatment,  which  if  equitable  is  stern.  To  use  the  parallel  of 
medicine,  some  cases  must  be  treated  in  hospitals  and  asylums. 

I  learn,  too,  that  it  will  have  been  asserted  that  there  is  a  special 
sphere  and  scope  for  the  work  of  the  churches.  I  hope  it  will  have 
been  emphatically  asserted  that  when  the  churches  take  up  a  case 
they  must  treat  it  thoroughly  and  fully.  Again  using  the  parallel  of 
medicine,  they  must  see  that  the  patients  have  food  as  well  as  physic, 
and  must  not  because  the  case  is  burdensome  provide  the  one,  and  leave 
the  other  to  haphazard. 

I  learn,  further,  that  it  has  been  laid  down  that  there  is  a  sphere  for 
individual  munificence.  I  suppose  a  distinction  will  have  been  drawn 
between  organization  and  relief.  Organized  charity  is  not  selfishly  eager 
to  treat  the  case  for  the  satisfaction  of  being  credited  with  the  cure. 
Again  using  medicine  to  guide  us,  the  patient  will  be  sent  to  that  doctor, 
that  climate,  that  "cure,"  where  the  case  can  be  best  treated.  I  am 
asked  to  wind  up  the  discussion  with  some  words  on  the  mutual  relation 
of  these  agencies.  I  write  in  the  dark,  not  having  seen  the  other  papers. 
Some  remarks  on  the  subject  of  charity  organization  will,  I  hope,  illus- 
trate the  subject. 

Whatever  may  have  been  said  :  i .  It  is  the  purpose  of  charity  organi- 
zation by  calling  in  the  aid  of  all  society  agencies  to  quicken  individual 
sympathy.  The  charity  of  the  multitude,  that  which  the  cynic  miscalls 
charity,  may  be  expressed  in  the  words  "Send  her  away  for  she  crieth 
after  us."  Poverty  is  so  unpleasant,  let  us  get  rid  of  it.  A  gift  of 
money  will  stop  the  cry,  a  gift  of  clothes  will  cover  the  rags.  The  ' 
Charity  Organization  Society  says  to  those  who  call  themselves  bene- 
factors, to  the  individual  givers,  you  must  throw  yourself  like  a  doctor 
into  the  case,  determined  to  cure,  not  simply  to  palliate  the  suffering. 
This  is  further  the  message  'it  gives  to  voluntary  societies.  Only  that 
society  can  be  said  to  be  doing  the  work  it  ought  to  do  in  which  the 
care  of  the  individual  is  not  lost  in  the  thought  of  the  association.  The 
society  must  beware  of  routine  and  treat  each  case  individually. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  367 

2.  This  will  be  the  message  of  charity  organization  to  the  churches. 
The  great  object  of  charity  organization  is  to  produce  better  conditions 
of  life.  When  the  doctor  has  to  treat  a  case  he  does  not  nowadays  at- 
tempt only  to  alleviate  symptoms,  he  tries  to  restore  the  system.  Diet 
does  as  much  as  drugs.  You,  it  says  to  the  churches,  have  been  thinking 
of  one  remedy  mainly,  and  in  your  effort  to  make  people  take  that 
remedy  you  have  often  increased  the  disease.  Without  self-respect  the 
sufferer  can  never  recover.  In  your  effort  to  make  men  take  the  nos- 
trum on  which  you  rely,  you  have  mixed  up  charity  and  religion  in  a 
way  which  has  destroyed  self-respect.  When  you  fully  realize  that  your 
agency  is  only  one  among  many,  when  you  have  ceased  to  regard  your 
proselytes  as  worthy  of  more  attention  than  any  others,  then  you  will 
have  learnt  that  true  charity  regards  the  need  and  not  the  creed.  Then 
perhaps  you  will  understand  why  He,  whom  you  profess  to  follow,  was 
so  constantly  pointing,  out  that  Samaritans  and  heathen  were  not  so 
completely  outside  the  pale  as  your  representatives  in  these  days 
affirm.      You  will  learn  the  difference  between  faith  and  a  creed. 

3.  The  Charity  Organization  Society  holds  up  to  the  individual  donor 
the  two  truths  which  it  has  tried  to  enforce  on  volunteers  and  on  churches: 
individual  contact;  the  bettering  of  the  general  conditions.  It  will 
show  him  that  this  agency  offers  the  munificent  donor  a  way  of  coming 
into  contact  with  those  who  need  his  help,  new  to  him.  If  he  listens  to 
the  tale  of  the  man  who  knocks  at  his  door,  or  makes  the  postman  his 
ambassador,  he  will  find  himself  often  deceived.  If  he  will  spare  an 
hour  a  week  to  go  down  to  the  Society's  office  and  read  through  the 
case  papers,  he  will  find  abundant  occasion  for  munificence.  His 
charity  account  will  be  like  his  private  account.  There  will  be  big  and 
little  sums  in  it.  He  will  not  always  be  spending.  He  will  often  find 
it  well  to  reserve  himself  for  a  big  occasion.  He  will  find  there  is  a 
spring  and  an  autumn,  a  time  for  spending,  a  time  for  .saving.  Generally 
the  result  of  his  experience  will  be  that,  whereas  before  he  gave  ten 
pounds  or  shillings  to  ten  cases,  and  found  these  cases  to  be  recurring 
decimals,  he  will  now  give  ^lo  to  one  case,  and  find  that  by  the  gift  he 
will  have  put  the  person  out  of  need  of  distress.  He  will  understand 
the  incident  at  the  [)ool  of  Bethesda,  and  .see  that  perfect  charity  must 
leave  certain  cases  untouched.  Meanwhile  he  will  have  learnt  what  a 
millionaire  may  do.  The  meaning  of  ])overty  will  have  been  revealed 
to  him,  he  will  of  necessity  become  a  jjhilanthropist. 


368        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

Not  content  as  once  to  leave  orders  when  he  is  away  to  draw  on  him 
for  heavy  cases,  he  will  use  his  leisure  and  his  brains  to  do  away  with  the 
causes  of  poverty.  Some  of  these  are  as  remediable  as  those  sanitary 
defects  which  made  epidemics  plagues.  He  will  learn  that  legislation 
can  come  to  the  aid  of  sympathy.  In  removing  the  sources  of  evil,  in 
supporting  efforts  to  develop  thrift  and  self-reliance,  he  will  do  much  to 
diminish  pauperism,  if  he  cannot  annihilate  poverty.  Money  spent  to 
help  forward  such  projects-  will  be  as  real  charity  in  his  eyes  as  direct 
gifts  to  the  poor.  Then,  too,  perchance  there  will  be  born  in  him  the 
spirit  of  the  old  Greeks.  He  will  feel  that  to  undertake  a  Xstrov^ytet, 
to  be  the  means  of  furnishing  public  recreation  in  providing  for  the 
people  parks  and  libraries  is  a  privilege.  He  will  know  that  this  ex- 
penditure of  money  will  be  more  profitable  than  that  employed  in  con- 
trolling syndicates,  or  in  supporting  a  personal  state  which  is  food  for 
penny-a-liners.  He  will  feel  that  his  own  art  treasures  and  pleasure 
grounds  minister  to  a  much  higher  purpose  when  he  holds  them  in  trust 
for  the  good  of  others.  His  own  personal  satisfaction  will  be  multiplied 
just  in  so  far  as  he  shares  with  others  that  which  once  had  only  the  value 
derived  from  exclusive  and  solitary  possession.  This  will  be  the  message 
of  charity  organization.  As  men  listen  to  it  they  will  become  acquainted 
with  the  sweet  virtue  Charity,  who  is  always  accompanied  by  her  sister 
Gratitude,  because  she  does  not,  like  the  Charity  of  the  cynic's  story, 
patronize,  pauperize,  or  humiliate  her  clients. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  369 


FRIENDLY  VISITING. 

BY  MISS  F.    C.    PRIDEAUX,   WOMEN' S  UNIVERSITY  SETTLEMENT,   BLACKFRIARS 

ROAD,   LONDON. 

The  organized  scheme  of  friendly  visiting  which  I  am  about  to 
describe  jiad  its  origin  rather  more  than  two  years  ago  in  the  minds  of 
Miss  Octavia  Hill  and  others,  who  were  keenly  alive  to  a  need  which 
it  is  intended  to  till.  This  need  is  described  by  Miss  Octavia  Hill 
herself  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  Magazine  for  August,  1891.  It  may 
be  briefly  characterized  as  the  need  for  the  union  of  two  people  in  one, 
the  ordinary  district  visitor  and  the  charity  organization  visitor,  or 
perhaps  it  would  be  more  correct  to  say,  the  union  in  one  person  of 
the  methods  of  the  ordinary  district  visitor  with  the  principles  of  the 
charity  organization  society  visitor.  These  two  had  for  the  most  part 
been  strangers  so  far,  and  not  infrequently  regarded  one  another  with 
something  of  the  suspicion  bred  of  ignorance.  But  this  was  not  a 
necessary  state  of  things.  Miss  Octavia  Hill  felt  how  much  might  be 
gained  by  the  really  friendly  and  systematic  visiting  of  a  group  of 
families  by  one  who  came  with  no  gifts  in  her  hand  and  who  would 
therefore  be  valued  as  a  friend  or  not  at  all,  visiting  not  only  in  times 
of  special  pressure  or  distress,  but  constantly,  and  so  gaining  some 
knowledge  of  the  family  under  all  circumstances.  What  she  wished  to 
see  was  the  periodical  house  to  house  visiting  and  the  personal  know- 
ledge of  a  few  peoples  pecially  committed  to  her  charge,  that  is,  the 
method  of  the  ordinary  district  visitor,  combined  with  those  princi- 
ples on  the  subject  of  material  relief  and  other  questions  which  we  may 
call  generally  "Charity  Organization  Society,"  and  which  the  ordinary 
district  visitor  is  in  the  habit  of  disregarding.  It  is  impossible  for  the 
visitors  from  the  charity  organization  committees  to  fill  this  need. 
Their  time  must  be  occupied  for  the  most  part  with  visiting  the  cases 
actually  applying  for  help;  and  after  the  decision  has  been  arrived  at 
and  the  family  helped  or  not,  as  the  case  may  be,  the  visits  in  the 
nature  of  things  will  drop.  Where  a  pension  is  regularly  allowed,  there 
will  certainly  be  scope  for  a  friendly  weekly  visit,  and  that  the  value  of 

24 


1 


370        INTERNATIONAL   CONGRESS   OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

this  visit  is  recognized  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  most  committees  make 
a  point  of  the  pension  being  taken  by  a  visitor  rather  than  fetched 
from  the  office  by  the  pensioner;  but  such  cases  form  a  very  small  pro- 
portion of  the  whole,  and  even  in  them  perhaps  the  friendliness  of  the 
visit  is  a  little  spoiled  by  its  being  inseparable  from  relief.  Evidently 
then,  visiting  from  a  charity  organization  society's  office  could  not  meet 
the  want,  though  close  co-operation  with  the  local  charity  organization 
committee  was  an  essential  element  in  the  idea.  It  was  clear  that  some 
fresh  organization  was  wanted  and  this  organization,  as  then  planned 
and  now  practised,  I  will  here  attempt  to  sketch. 

The  central  idea  being  to  have  a  body  of  visitors  whq  would 
each  undertake  to  visit  regularly  a  certain  group  of  families,  the  two 
questions  which  first  arose  were  naturally  how  should  the  visitors  be 
found,  and  whom  should  they  visit?  Miss  Octavia  Hill's  connection 
with  the  Women's  University  Settlement  in  Southwark  led  her 
very  readily  to  an  answer  to  the  first  question.  Here  were  already  a 
few  women  who  should  be  fitted  and  would  certainly  be  willing  to 
undertake  the  work,  while  beyond  those  actually  living  in  Southwark 
was  the  association  which  supported  the  settlement  and  included  many 
who  would  be  glad  to  give  one  day  weekly  to  something  of  this  kind. 
And  so  it  came  about  that  the  organization  started  with  the  settlement 
as  its  basis,  and  ever  since  the  connection  between  them  has  been  of  the 
closest  possible  nature.  In  the  first  place  the  warden  of  the  settle- 
ment naturally  became  the  head  or  directress  of  the  visitors.  As  all 
applications  for  work  of  whatever  kind  at  the  settlement  are  made  to 
her  in  the  first  instance,  she  was  thus  able  to  select  for  this  visiting 
work  those  who  seemed  likely  to  succeed  best  with  it,  and  these  visitors 
understood  that  they  were  responsible  to  her.  It  was  impressed  upon 
them  that  when  anything  seemed  to  need  attention  in  the  circumstances 
of  the  people  they  were  visiting,  this  was  to  be  reported  at  once  at  the 
settlement,  special  report  forms  being  provided  for  the  purpose. 
Among  those  circumstances  that  should  be  and  are  reported  are  such 
as  destitution,  unsanitary  condition  -of  the  house,  neglect  of  school, 
chronic  illness  or  special  physical  affliction  of  any  kind  in  any  mem- 
ber of  the  family,  as  well  as  occasional  events,  such  as  temporary  ill- 
ness or  accidents  of  any  description.  These  reports  it  is  the  care  of 
one  of  the  resident  workers  at  the  settlement  to  receive  and  attend  to 
at  once.     The  advantage  of  this  is  obvious,  as  the  resident  worker  being 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  37  I 

always  on  the  spot  there  is  no  unnecessary  delay,  which  could  not  be 
avoided  if  the  visitor  herself,  living  as  she  often  does  in  quite  another 
part  of  London,  tried  to  do  all  that  is  required.  But  as  far  as  possible, 
she  is  associated  with  the  resident  worker  in  what  is  done  for  the  cases 
reported  by  her.  Often  where  she  has  the  requisite  experience  she  is  able 
to  carry  the  whole  matter  through  herself,  and  always  the  aim  is  not  to 
take  it  out  of  her  hands  more  than  is  necessary.  When  a  report  has 
been  received  it  is  made  into  a  case  much  after  the  fashion  of  the 
■Charity  Organization  Society  case  papers,  and  every  week  at  a  fixed 
time  the  warden  and  the  worker  in  charge  of  the  cases, — secretary 
for  the  district  visitors  as  she  might  be  called — go  through  all  the  . 
cases,  discuss  the  best  means  of  dealing  with  them,  and  record  their 
suggestions  as  to  how  it  should  be  done  on  the  case  paper.  The  visitor 
at  her  next  weekly  visit  comes  to  the  settlement  to  see  what  this  sugges- 
tion has  been  and  acts  upon  it,  always  supposing  that  her  judgment 
coincides,  as  it  is  not  at  all  wished  that  she  should  look  upon  it  as  an 
arbitrary  decision. 

But  it  was  felt  that  this  system  of  reports  would  not  quite  suffice  for 
the  visitor,  who  might  easily  desire  advice  about  some  of  her  people 
without  having  any  special  need  of  theirs  to  report  upon.  It  was  there- 
ford  arranged  that  each  visitor  should  have  an  opportunity  monthly  for 
talking  over  her  district.  To  this  interview  she  brings  her  book  in 
which  are  entered  the  names  of  all  those  whom  she  visits,  with  as 
many  particulars  about  them  as  she  has  been  able  to  gather,  the  families 
are  gone  through  and  the  difficult  points  which  are  sure  to  arise  in  her 
intercourse  with  her  people  can  be  discussed.  But  a  need  for  some- 
thing more  than  this  even  was  recognized,  if  the  work  of  the  visitors 
was  to  be  all  that  it  might.  Beside  advice  on  special  points,  which 
could  only  be  given  separately  to  each,  there  was  much  knowledge  of  a 
general  nature  which  would  be  useful  to  all  and  which  could  be  given 
to  them  collectively,  local  knowledge  as  to  the  resources  of  the  neigh- 
borhood in  the  way  of  education,  amusement,  relief  in  sickness,  etc., 
or  knowledge  on  such  points  as  the  working  of  the  Poor  Law,  elemen- 
tary education,  friendly  societies  and  so  forth.  It  was  therefore  decided 
that  the  best  way  would  be  to  have  monthly  meetings  at  the  settlement 
to  which  all  the  visitors  should  be  invited,  and  at  each  of  which  a 
paper  was  read  or  an  informal  lecture  given  on  one  of  the  subjects 
mentioned  above  or  the  like.     These  monthly  meetings  were  held  for 


372         INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

more  than  a  year  and  only  discontinued  as  their  place  was  taken  b} 
courses  of  lectures  on  similar  subjects  given  at  the  settlement  to  other 
workers  besides  the  district  visitors.  It  had  been  felt  for  some  time 
that  education  for  philanthropic  workers  of  every  kind  was  becoming 
more  and  more  important,  as  the  complexity  increased  of  the  problems 
which,  however  seemingly  simple  their  work,  they  must  inevitably  come 
across.  To  meet  this  demand  to  some  small  extent  these  lectures  were 
started  at  the  settlement,  specially  with  a  view  to  the  district  visitors 
and  other  workers  in  Southwark. 

So  much  for  the  organization  of  the  visitors;  now  for  the  question 
'  as  to  whom  they  should  visit.  Possibly  it  may  seem  as  if  this  ques- 
tion could  hardly  present  a  difficulty,  considering  the  great  numbers  of 
the  poor  massed  together  in  South  and  East  London,  and  tlie  com- 
paratively small  number  of  those  who  have  any  desire  to  visit  them. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  parochial  machinery,  though  inade- 
quate for  the  most  part  for  want  of  workers,  is  still  at  work  and  that 
wherever  the  settlement  district  visitors  began  to  visit  it  must  be  in 
somebody's  parish,  and  that  at  least  the  leave  of  the  vicar,  if  possible  his 
co-operation,  must  be  obtained.  Fortunately  for  the  new  scheme  the 
vicar  of  St.  Paul's,  Westminster  Bridge  Road,  was  ready  to  welcome  as 
a  band  of  helpers  the  visitors  from  the  settlement. 

A  certain  part  of  his  parish  was  apportioned  off  to  be  visited  by  them 
and  the  connection  of  these  visitors  with  himself  and  the  other  clergy  of 
the  parish  was  and  is  still  maintained  by  means  of  the  parochial  relief 
committee  held  weekly,  at  which  the  warden  or  the  secretary  to  the  dis- 
trict visitors  is  always  present,  and  reports  are  exchanged.  Nothing  of 
moment,  therefore,  can  happen  in  any  district  without  its  being  reported 
to  the  clergy  at  the  weekly  committee,  or  if  their  help  be  urgently 
needed,  they  are  communicated  with  by  the  secretary  without  any  delay. 

There  are  now  15  visitors  all  with  two  or  three  exceptions  working 
close  together  in  this  parish  of  St.  Paul's. 

I  have  said  that  co-operation  with  the  local  charity  organization 
society  committee  was  one  of  the  essential  elements  in  the  idea  of  the 
scheme.  This  co-operation  is  very  closely  maintained,  for  the  secre- 
tary for  the  district  visitors  is  also  a  member  of  the  charity  organiza- 
tion committee.  She  there  takes  special  charge,  as  it  were,  of  all  cases 
which  apply  from  the  districts  and  works  them  entirely.  The  warden 
IS  also  a   member  of  the  charity  organization  committee,  and   the    fact 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  373 

that  these  two  are  on  both  the  parochial  and  charity  organization 
committees  secures  the  most  complete  co-operation  possible.  It  was 
hoped  that  not  only  might  the  charity  organization  committee  help  the 
visitors,  but  that  occasionally  at  any  rate  the  visitors  might  help  the 
charity  organization  committee  by  being  able  to  supply  information 
about  applicants  living  in  one  or  other  of  their  districts  of  a  more 
detailed  and  dependable  kind  than  could  be  obtained  from  a  single  visit 
or  the  accounts  of  the  neighbors.  But,  of  course,  the  help  is  chiefly  on 
the  other  side.  Whenever  a  case  reported  by  a  visitor  at  the  settlement 
seems  to  be  of  such  a  nature  as  to  make  help  by  the  Charity  Organiza- 
tion Society  desirable,  it  is  referred  to  the  committee,  and  the  person  in 
need  is  told  to  apply;  or  sometimes  the  intermediate  step  of  reporting 
the  case  at  the  settlement  is  not  necessary  and  the  person  is  sent  straight 
to  the  charity  organization  office.  Almost  all  cases  except  those  of 
temporary  sickness  are  by  the  decision  of  the  parochial  committee 
referred  to  the  Charity  Organization  Society,  Avhich,  therefore,  becomes 
the  usual  channel  of  relief.  But  the  visitor  may  be  and  generally  is  the 
means  by  which  the  relief  is  given;  as  if  it  be  the  question  of  a  loan 
granted  by  the  committee,  she  would  be  the  natural  person  to  collect  it 
at  her'weekly  visit,  and  to  distribute  the  pension  or  temporary  relief 
which  had  been  allowed  to  any  of  her  people. 

Effort  is  also  made  to  maintain  co-operation  with  all  other  wise  local 
agencies  for  the  good  of  the  people;  with  one  especially,  perhaps,  it  is 
well  that  the  visitor  should  be  in  close  touch,  namely,  the  Metropolitan 
Association  for  Befriending  Young  Servants.  Sometimes  certainly,  very 
often  .possibly,  she  will  come  across  young  girls  in  her  district  on  the 
lookout  for  places,  first  places  perhaps.  She  will  feel  the  great  import- 
ance of  this  first  place  turning  out  successful,  but  will  not  have  the  re- 
quisite time  or  opportunities  for  finding  it  herself.  By  referring  the 
girl  to  the  free  registry  of  the  Association  she  knows  that  all  she  would 
like  to  do  will  be  done  and  done  more  efficiently  by  them. 

One  word  might  here  be  said  as  to  the  rules  for  visitors  to  guide 
them  in  their  work.  They  are  of  course  expected  to  visit  regularly, 
and  to  make  note  of  their  visit  in  the  book  of  which  mention  has  been 
made.  Appended  is  a  specimen  sheet  from  one  of  these  visitors'  books, 
showing  the  sort  of  information  that  is  to  be  obtained  where  possible, 
and,  of  course,  only  by  degrees.  Very  often  there  may  be  no  special 
remarks  to  record,  but  just  the  date  and  the  fact  of  the  visit  having  been 


374        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

paid  should  be  entered.  This  system  of  keeping  a  written  record  has- 
been  found  of  great  use  both  by  the  visitors  for  reference  for  themselves, 
and  also  specially  when  a  district  has  had  to  be  handed  on  from  one  vis- 
itor to  another.  But  there  is  one  rule,  and  one  only,  on  which  much 
stress  is  laid,  and  that  is  one  which  really  follows  from  what  has  already 
been  said  about  the  connection  with  the  Charity  Organization  Society, 
namely,  that  no  relief  of  any  kind  be  given  by  the  visitor  on  her  own 
responsibility  alone.  One  great  point  in  the  whole  scheme  was  this,  that 
the  visitor  never  being  looked  upon  as  the  source  from  which  material 
relief  in  the  shape  of  tickets  or  money  would  flow,  her  visits  might  be 
valued  by  the  people  for  just  what  they  were  worth  in  themselves;  the  help 
that  she  was  to  give  them  was  to  be  just  that  which  her  own  nature  made 
it  possible  for  her  to  give,  and  as  experience  has  shown,  this  means  a  great 
deal  from  some  people,  if  but  little  from  others.  And  it  need  hardly 
be  pointed  out  how  much  she  herself  gains  from  this  rule;  if  she  is  wel- 
comed, she  knows  it  is  not  for  the  sake  of  what  she  brings  with  her,  and 
at  any  rate  one  obstacle  to  her  getting  to  know  the  people  as  they  really 
are- is  removed. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  thought  that  a  good  deal  has  been  said  about  what 
the  visitor  may  not  or  cannot  do,  and  very  little  about  the  positive  side 
of  her  work.  It  must  be  remembered  in  the  first  place  that  friendli- 
ness is  to  be  the  characteristic  of  these  visits,  and  we  may  have  a  very 
friendly  feeling  for  a  person  for  years,  and  add  something,  however, 
inconsiderable,  to  their  pleasure  in  life  by  this  feeling,  without  being 
able  to  do  them  one  single  act  of  service  worthy  of  record,  much  as  we 
should  like  to.  It  was  felt  by  the  starters  of  the  scherpe  that  friendli- 
ness was  a  thing  of  growth  which  if  it  were  to  be  worth  anything  would 
not  spring  up  at  a  word;  it  would,  however,  be  very  desirable  to  give 
the  visitor  some  regular  excuse  for  calling  on  the  people  whom  she  was 
to  try  to  know,  some  raison  d' etre  for  her  visits  until  such  friendly  rela- 
tions should  be  established  as  to  make  excuse  unnecessary.  The  distri- 
bution of  tickets  or  tracts,  the  traditional  district  visitor's  resource,  was 
out  of  the  question,  and  the  exactly  opposite  course  was  decided  on> 
the  district  visitor  should  not  distribute,  she  should  collect.  She  should 
suggest  to  and  make  easy  for  the  people  the  habit  of  putting  by  some- 
thing weekly,  by  taking  round  with  her  a  number  of  stamps  and  post 
office  forms,  selling  the  stamps  to  those  who  would  join  her  bank,  and 
then  starting  them  with  their  post  office  savings  bank  book  when  the 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  375 

necessary  shilling  had  been  saved.  Thus  she  not  only  gained  an  intro- 
duction to  her  people,  but  began  her  acquaintance  by  a  real,  if  small, 
act  of  service,  introducing  them  to  the  great  State-aided  system  of 
saving,  and  helping  them  in  the  little  formalities  which  often  seem  so 
formidable  to  them  as  to  deter  them  from  belonging  to  the  Post  Office 
Savings  Bank.  And  the  acquaintance  once  established,  opportunities 
for  other  acts  of  service  are  sure  to  come  sooner  or  later  in  the  course 
of  the  family  vicissitudes.  There  is  at  the  settlement  a  small  library 
from  which  books  can  be  taken  by  visitors  and  lent  to  their  people;  there 
are  often  notices  of  evening  classes,  entertainments,  exhibitions  or  the 
like,  to  which  she  can  invite  those  for  whom  they  are  suitable;  she  can 
urge  upon  the  girls  to  join  a  benefit  society  established  in  the  district, 
and  in  many  other  ways  can  she  be  the  link  which  is  often  all  that  is 
wanted  to  bring  together  the  people  of  a  neighborhood  and  the  advan- 
tages, educational  or  recreative,  all  ready  for  them.  > 
And  now  to  conclude,  as  this  scheme  has  been  in  force  nearly  two 
years  it  may  fairly  be  asked  has  it  been  a  success?  The  answer  must  be 
I  think  that  where  the  right  person  has  been  at  work  the  scheme  has 
been  distinctly  successful;  everything  depends  here,  as  elsewhere,  on  the 
individual  worker,  and  the  difference  between  what  some  have  achieved 
when  compared  with  the  results  obtained  by  others  is  most  marked. 
But  speaking  generally,  I  should  say  that  so  far  as  succeeding  in  getting  on 
friendly  terms  with  the  people  goes,  the  visitors  as  a  body  have  been  more 
successful  than  might  have  been  hoped,  though  perhaps  not  as  much  is  done 
in  the  way  of  collecting  savings  as  was  expected  at  first.  And  as  among 
ourselves  one  friend  will  have  far  more  power  of  helping  and  influencing 
for  good  than  another,  so  one  visitor  will  be  able  to  make  her  friendli- 
ness much  more  fruitful  than  another,  yet  the  mere  fact  that  a  feeling  of 
friendliness  exists  at  all  must  be  so  much  to  the  good  and  is  well  worth 
any  efforts  that  have  been  made  to  advance  it.  But  not  too  much  of 
even  this  must  be  looked  for  by  any  who  might  think  of  taking  up  work 
of  this  kind.  Again  what  we  find  in  our  intercourse  with  friends  and 
acquaintances  of  our  own  class  will  hold  good  here.  With  some  we  seem 
to  have  by  nature  that  inexplicable  sympathy  which  makes  it  possible  for 
us  to  influence  and  even  help  them  sometimes,  while  with  others  it  is 
just  the  contrary;  without  any  fault  exactly,  our  two  natures  do  not  har- 
monize and  we  can  do  each  other  no  good.  So  in  our  districts,  we 
must  not  reasonably  expect  to  influence  all  alike,  perhaps  with  some  we 


376        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OK    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

may  never  "get  on"  at  all.  Of  one  thing  we  may  be  sure,  that  there 
will  be  very  little  to  show  or  to  t;.ilk  of  as  the  result  of  our  work;  it  will 
be  very  indefinite,  intangible,  so  that  we  ourselves  may  often  doubt 
whether  we  are  doing  any  goud  at  all.  But  the  "growing  good  of  the 
world  is  partly  dependent  on  unhistoric  acts,"  and  that  friendliness 
and  mutual  interest  should  be  awakened  is  surely  something  towards  the 
"growing  good,"  though  the  acts  that  go  to  bring  it  about  are  unhis- 
toric and  insignificant  indeed. 


Name, 


Specimen  Sheet  From  Visitor's  Book. 

(RIGHT   HAND    PAGE) 

Address,  Floor, 


Christian  Names. 


Age. 


Occupation'  or 
Children's  School. 


Savings  or 
Club. 


REMARKS. 


Only  remarks  of 
permanent  interest  to 
be  entered  under  tliU 
heiiil. 


(LKFT   I.IAXU    PAGE) 


Date. 


Deposit. 


Visit. 


Date.        Deposit. 


^'ISIT. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATIOX.  377 


ENGLISH   POOR    LAW. 

EY  BALDWYN   KLKMIXG,   GENERAL  INSPECTOR  OF  LOCAL  GOVERNMENT  BOARD 
FOR  COUNTIES  OF  DORSET.   SOUTHAMPTON,   SURREY  AND  WILIS. 

The  memories  of  sixty  years  ago  have  grown  so  dim  that  it  is  difficult  to 
realize  the  terrors  and  the  miseries  which  led  to  the  introduction  of  the 
'•Xew  Poor  Law"  in  1834.  Much  may  be  learned  from  the  most 
logical  and  powerful  report  of  the  Poor  Law  Commissioners  upon 
which  that  act  was  founded;  but  it  is  necessary  to  dig  deep  into  local 
records  and  the  passing  literature  of  the  times  to  appreciate  how  com- 
pletely the  comfort  and  convenience  of  the  well  conducted  sections  of 
society  were  at  the  mercy  of  vicious,  insolent,  and  rapacious  idlers. 

In  the  more  quiet  days  which  have  come  for  us  it  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand a  state  of  affairs  under  which  employers  of  labor  were  obliged  to 
part  with  old  and  trusty  servants,  in  order  to  find  room  for  the  able- 
bodied  loafers  allotted  to  them  by  the  parish. 

It  is  hard  to  believe  that  if  any  single  woman  declared  herself  to  be 
pregnant,  and  charged  any  person  with  being  the  father,  it  was  lawful 
for  any  justice  of  the  division  to  issue  his  warrant  for  the  immediate  appre- 
hension of  such  person,  and  his  committal  to  gaol  unless  he  gave  security 
to  indemnify  the  parish. 

Grumble  as  we  may  at  the  rates  imposed  upon  us,  it  is  difficult  to 
picture  to  ourselves  the  reality  of  a  time  when  they  were  in  many  places 
los.  and  12^-.,  in  several  places  over  20s.,  and  in  at  least  one  place 
over30j-. ,  in  the  pound. 

It  is  difficult  now  to  realize  the  absolute  despair  of  employer  and 
employed  in  the  times  when  nTght  after  night  through  the  southern  coun- 
ties of  England  the  sky  was  reddened  with  the  flames  of  the  burning 
food  of  the  people,  and  the  landowner  or  the  farmer  scarcely  dared  to 
lay  his  head  upon  the  pillow. 

We  have  almost  forgotten  the  tragedy  of  the  special  assize  issued  to 
deal  with  the  rioters  of  Berkshire,  Hampshire,  Wiltshire  and  Dorset- 
shire, when  prisoners  were  tried  by  the  hundred  and  sentenced  to  death  by 
the  score.  Public  opinion  revolted  against  the  execution  of  such  a  crowd 
of  victims.    But  althoifgh  in  a  few  cases  only  was  the  capital  sentence  car- 


378         INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

ried  into  effect,  the  wretched  men  were  torn  from  their  homes  to  transpor- 
tation and  imprisonment,  in  numbers  which  represent  so  appalling  a 
sum  of  suffering  that  even  now  it  can  be  recalled  only  with  shuddering 
horror. 

The  problem  to  be  solved  by  the  Poor  Law  Commissioners  was  two- 
fold: (i)  the  reformation  of  the  laboring  classes  who'had  become  abso- 
lutely demoralized  by  the  then  Poor  Law;  (2)  the  salvation  of  the 
country  from  financial  ruin. 

The  Commissioners  spared  no  effort  to  obtain  every  information  upon 
every  branch  of  the  complications  which  they  were  set  to  unravel,  and  as 
the  evidence  was  sifted  and  compared,  it  was  found  all  to  point  in  one 
direction  only — that  the  evils  which  had  assumed  such  portentous  propor- 
tions were  distinctly  traced  back  to  one  great  economical  error,  the  unlim- 
ited grant  of  outdoor  relief  to  the  able-bodied.  The  whole  tenor  of  the 
elaborate  report  of  1834  may  be  summed  up  in  the  foregoing  sentence, 
and  the  cause  having  been  fnade  clear  the  remedy  was  equally  apparent. 
Outdoor  relief  to  the  able-bodied  must  be  abolished.  This  alone  would 
not,  however,  complete  the  reform  that  was  imperative  for  the  restoration 
of  order  and  prosperity.  It  was  essential  that  all  able-bodied  destitu- 
tion should  be  tested,  and  that,  in  one  form  or  another,  the  test  should 
be  work  in  return  for  the  relief  afforded. 

The  Poor  Law  Acts  and  Orders  do  not  prohibit  out-relief  to  the  sick, 
the  widow,  the  orphan,  or  the  aged  and  infirm,  but  only  to  the  able-bod- 
ied; and  even  for  that  class  there  are  many  exceptions  and  modifications 
to  meet  emergencies  and  prevent  hardship.  The  great  principle  of  the 
English  Poor  Law  as  it  now  exists  is  that  outdoor  relief  shall  not  be 
given  to  those  who  are  able  to  work,  and  that  all  who  are  able  to  work 
and  receive  relief,  whether  under  ordinary  circumstances  in  the  work- 
house, or  in  exceptional  cases  out  of  the  workhouse,  shall  have  their 
destitution  put  to  the  proof  by  the  enforcement  of  a  labor  test.  In  work- 
ing out  this  principle  another  great  object  has  been  kept  in  view — that 
the  position  of  the  pauper  should  be  less  eligible  than  that  of  the  inde- 
pendent laborer. 

A  comparison  between  the  England  of  to-day  and  the  England  of  sixty 
years  ago  will  show  at  once  how  sound  were  the  conclusions  arrived  at 
by  the  Poor  Law  Commissioners  in  1834,  and  how  large  a  measure  of 
gratitude  is  due  to  them  from  their  descendants.  In  one  sense  the 
present  position  of  pauperism  is  undoubtedly  disappointing.  The  pre- 
vailing sentiment  which  underlies  the  "New  Poor  Law"  is  the  abolition 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  379 

of  outdoor  relief,  and  although  the  law  has  been  more  than  fifty  years 
in  operation  out-relief  continues  to  be  granted  to  a  large,  and  in  some 
parts  to  an  enormous  extent. 

It  was  apparently  the  hope  and  the  intention  of  those  who  framed  the 
Act  of  1834,  that  the  withdrawal  of  out-relief  from  the  able-bodied,  and 
the  closer  restriction  of  all  relief  outside  the  workhouse,  would  create 
habits  ofthrift  and  independence,  which  would  result  in  provision  for 
sickness  and  old  age  without  recourse  to  the  degradation  of  relief  from 
the  rates.  It  may  be  argued  that  the  large  amount  of  out-relief  still 
granted  is  proof  that  such  hopes  and  expectations  have  proved  to  be 
unfounded*  But  it  would  be  very  wrong  to  assume  that  such  an 
argument  is  correct.  Many  considerations  must  be  weighed  before  any 
conclusion  can  be  attempted,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  even  yet  expe- 
rience is  old  enough  to  warrant  a  reliable  decision  as  to  the  final  effects 
of  the  Poor  Law  as  at  present  constituted.  One  thing  is  certain,  it  was 
inevitable  that  the  aged  and  infirm  who  are  now  upon  the  rates,  either 
in  or  out  of  the  workhouses,  should  come  upon  the  rates  when  they  had 
outlived  their  own  generation  and  their  wage-earning  power.  Neither 
they  nor  their  relations  had  the  facilities  for  thrift  which  are  so  freely 
offered  to  the  younger  generation,  and  it  was  the  almost  unavoidable 
consequence  of  their  position  that  sucTi  as  survived  to  old  age  would  find 
themselves  compelled  to  come  to  the  Poor  Law  for  maintenance  during 
the  ending  of  their  days.  This  fact,  however,  should  not  put  us  out  of 
heart,  and  society  to-day  can  afford  to  grant  with  a  very  sympathetic 
hand  such  relief  as  may  best  meet  the  necessities  of  those  whose  burdens 
are  the  outcome  of  the  stormy  times  in  which  they  were  bred.  It  by  no 
means  follows  that  succeeding  generations  will  be  equally  needy.  On 
the  contrary  there  are  many  hopeful  indications  that  the  present  phase  of 
old  age  pauperism  is  a  passing  one,  and  that  the  laboring  population  are 
taking  full  advantage  of  the  opportunities  for  maintaining  their  inde- 
pendence. 

The  enormous  development  of  friendly  benefit  and  kindred  societies, 
the  steady  increase  in  the  savings  banks  deposits,  the  greater  prudence 
with  regard  to  marriage,  the  intellectual  advancement  of  the  people,  the 
evergrowing  facilities  of  transport,  the  extension  of  free  libraries,  the 
means  of  obtaining  instruction  in  every  branch  of  education,  and  the 
constant  decline  of  pauperism,  all  give  evidence  that  the  working  classes 
are  willing  and  able  to  provide  for  themselves  when  they  are  not 
demoralized  by  mischievous  offers  of  maintenance  without  work. 


38o 


INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


The  test  of  destitution  by  work  has  been  proved  to  be  the  only  sound 
principle  upon  which  relief  can  be  afforded  at  the  public  cost.  This  prin- 
ciple is  at  once  the  justification  of  the  workhouse,  and  the  condemna- 
tion of  outdoor  relief.  Indoor  relief  can  be  tested;  outdoor  relief  can- 
not. Indoor  relief  is  sufficient;  outdoor  relief  must  be  insufficient. 
Indoor  relief  is  shown  to  be  required  by  the  fact  that  it  is  accepted; 
outdoor  relief  affords  occasion  forendless  fraud  and  imposition.  Indoor 
relief  is  safe  as  regards  the  interests  of  the  poor  and  of  the  ratepayer; 
outdoor  relief  is  equally  dangerous  to  both. 

The  large  amount  of  out-relief  still  granted,  although  not  so  indefen- 
sible as  it  may  at  first  sight  appear  to  be,  does  most  certainly  give  ground 
for  anxiety — all  the  more  so,  because  it  has  been  over  and  over  again 
proved  to  be  unnecessary,  notwithstanding  all  that  may  fairly  be  urged 
in  its  favor.  Wherever  the  Guardians  have  made  an  intelligent  and 
continued  effort  to  diminish  pauperism  by  restricting  out-relief,  they 
have  been  successful.  The  object  to  be  aimed  at  is  not  the  abolition  of  out- 
relief,  but  the  restriction  of  out-relief  to  the  smallest  legitimate  amount. 
This  has  been  tried  under  every  variety  of  circumstances  in  unions  of 
the  most  different  descriptions,  Atcham,  Bradfield,  Brixworth,  Manches- 
ter and  Whitechapel  are  but  a  few  of  many,  where. sound  administration 
has  worked  as  beneficially  for  the  poor  as  for  the  ratepayers.  If  the  good 
example  of  such  administration  had  been  universally  followed,  the  con- 
dition of  the  laboring  classes  would  give  less  cause  for  doubt  than  it  does 
at  present  to  those  who  most  desire  to  elevate  them  above  the  necessity  of 
recourse  to  rate  relief.  The  very  fact  that  the  Poor  Law  stands  between 
the  individual  and  actual  destitution  must  have  an  adverse  influence 
upon  thrift  and  self-help,  and  that  influence  becomes  the  more  power- 
ful as  the  limits  of  rate  relief  are  widened. 

The  influence  itself  may  be  submitted  to  in  order  to  protect  the  com- 
munity from  greater  mischief,  but  clearly  it  should  be  kept  within  the 
narrowest  possible  bounds.  It  is  a  mistake  to  urge  that  indoor  relief  is 
more  disgraceful  than  outdoor  relief.  Both  are  unfortunate  necessities, 
and  it  is  a  false  philanthropy  to  minimize  the  evils  of  pauperism;  but  in  a 
comparison  of  in  with  out-relief  the  latter  is  the  worse  of  the  two. 

The  recipient  of  indoor  relief  submits  to  the  fullest  test  of  destitution 
and  gives  the  fruits  of  his  labor  in  return  for  the  relief  afforded  to  him. 
The  person  who  obtains  out-relief,  submits  to  no  test  of  destitution  and 
gives  nothing  whatever  in  return  for  what  he  receives.  That  indoor 
relief  is  distasteful  may  be  admitted,   and   it   is  fortunate  that  it  is  so. 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  38 1 

The  reluctance  to  enter  the  workhouse  is  the  best  inducement  to  make 
provision  for  the  later  years  of  life,  and  operates  powerfully  to  enforce 
the  obligation  upon  the  members  of  a  family  for  their  mutual  support. 
As  regards  life  in  an  English  workhouse  there  is  very  little  to  which  reason- 
able objection  can  be  taken.  Speaking  generally,  the  accommodation  is 
good,  the  diet  is  sufficient,  the  regulations  provide  for  every  comfort  sub- 
ject to  the  enforcement  of  necessary  discipline,  the  sick  are  carefully 
tended,  the  children  well  educated,  and  the  inmates  well  treated. 

In  1834  the  able-bodied  poor  created  the  difficulty  to  be  met.  Since 
then  the  number  of  the  able-bodied  and  the  children  in  workhouses 
in  the  rural  districts,  and  to  a  less  degree  in  the  towns,  has  gradually 
diminished,  and  now  the  unions  are  filled  with  the  aged  and  the  infirm  who 
were  young  during  the  thirties.  This  change  in  the  character  of  the  work- 
house inmates  has  rendered  it  possible  to  introduce  a  less  rigid  enforce- 
ment of  discipline  than  when  the  inmates  were  drawn  from  classes 
requiring  stricter  treatment.  We  have  reasonable  grounds  to  hope  that 
as  those  who  are  now  aged  and  infirm  pass  away,  the  amount  of  pau- 
perism in  the  country  will  diminish. 

The  deterioration  of  laboring  class  morality,  which  reached  its 
crisis  in  1830,  had  sunk  far  too  deep  to  be  quietly  eradicated.  The 
Poor  Law  then  introduced  has  been  unevenly,  and  not  always  loyally 
administered.  Although  it  is  a  sad  fact  to  be  faced  that  there  are  still 
more  than  750,000  paupers  in  the  country,  costing  over  ^8,000,000  a 
year,  it  is  well  to  know  that  much  of  this  vast  amount  is  amenable  to 
the  sounder  administration  which  is  gaining  ground;  that  we  may  look 
for  a  gradual  diminution  of  the  large  proportion  now  resulting  from  old 
age  and  infirmity,  and  that  the  good  influences  at  work  for  encouraging 
thrift  and  independence  are  daily  acquiring  a  firmer  hold  upon  the 
classes  whom  they  are  designed  to  benefit. 

Large,  and  to  a  great  extent  unnecessary,  as  is  the  burden  borne  by 
the  country  on  account  of  this  vast  weight  of  pauperism  and  expenditure, 
when  the  proportion  of  pauperism  is  spread  over  the  population  of  Eng- 
land and  Wales,  it  is  well  under  3  per  cent.,  and  the  cost  upon  rateable 
value  is  less  than  is.  2d.  in  the  pound.  Even  to  those  who  feel  most  keenly 
how  imperfect  much  of  the  poor  law  administration  still  is,  there  must  be  a 
feeling  of  grateful  satisfaction  in  the  comparison  between  these  figures,  and 
the  state  of  the  poor  and  the  expenditure  prior  to  the  passing  of  the  Poor 
Law  Amendment  Act. 


382        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OK    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

That  the  principles  of  the  English  Poor  Law  are  thoroughly  sound  has 
been  demonstrated  by  all  experience  since  the  great  reform  of  1834. 
That  those  principles  have  not  been  more  uniformly  and  consistently 
applied  has  prevented  the  much  greater  good  which  might  have  been 
gained.  Those,  however,  who  seek  to  depreciate  what  has  been  done, 
and  to  deny  the  future  possibilities  for  good,  are  blind  to  the  lessons 
taught  us  by  the  past. 

In  the  first  three  decades  of  this  century  England  went  through  a 
struggle  during  which  the  administration  of  the  Poor  Law  had  brought 
absolute  ruin  within  the  near  future  unless  measures  could  be  taken  to 
cope  with  the  general  distress  and  disorganization.  The  Poor  Law 
Commissioners  ascertained  and  applied  the  remedy.  Many  and  many 
a  time  since  then  the  working  classes  in  this  country  have  suffered 
periods  of  stress  and  difficulty.  They  have  emerged  from  them  with- 
out serious  detriment,  however  great  the  local  and  temporary  suffering 
may  have  been.  Often  the  Poor  Law  has  been  abused,  and  sugges- 
tions in  every  conceivable  direction  have  been  made  for  its  modifica- 
tion or  amendment,  but  always  it  has  stood  strong  and  firm  to  bear  the 
burden  imposed  upon  it,  to  give  maintenance  to  the  destitute  on  the  one 
hand,  and  on  the  other  to  save  the  people  from  an  expenditure,  which 
had  nearly  brought  them  to  ruin  sixty  years  ago. 

It  is  not  feasible  within  the  limits  of  this  paper  to  do  more  than 
advert  in  the  most  general  terms  to  the  past  and  present  position  of 
pauperism  in  England.  The  many  and  interesting  collateral  influences 
and  effects  have  necessarily  been  for  the  most  part  left  aside,  but  it 
may  truly  be  said  that  the  actual  good  obtained  by  the  Poor  Law  Act 
of  1834  is  small  in  comparison  with  the  far  reaching  indirect,  but  con- 
sequent influences,  which  have  been  at  work  in  furthering  the  interests 
and  well  being  of  the  non-pauper  population,  and  in  keeping  large 
numbers  who  would  otherwise  have  been  paupers  in  a  position  of  inde- 
pendence. 

The  great  growth  of  benefit  societies  is  one  of  the  most  striking 
symptoms  of  improvement.  Upon  this  important  subject  there  is  still 
a  considerable  lack  of  definite  information.  The  best  of  the  societies 
are  making  strenuous  eftbrts  to  place  themselves  upon  a  thoroughly 
sound  footing,  and  the  immense  numbers  of  members  prove  that  their 
hold  upon  the  public  confidence  has  been  well  established.  It  is  im- 
possible to  estimate  their  enormous  power  and  influence  for  good,  and 
they  carry  with   them    the    hearty   "God   speed"   of  all   who   care    for 


CHARITY    ORGANIZAITON.  383 

the  true  interests  of  the  working  classes.  Unfortunately  there  are  still 
extant  many  societies  which  are  not  sound  and  which  may  in  the  future 
add  to  the  distrust  consequent  upon  failure. 

There  are  no  data  upon  which  it  is  practicable  to  state  what  proportion 
of  the  population  have  made  efforts  to  provide  for  themselves  more  or  less 
completely  by  this  description  of  thrift.  The  number  of  members  of  bene- 
fit societies  is  known  to  be  very  large,  and  it  is  also  known  that  very  large 
numbers  are  not  counted  in  the  recognized  returns.  Although  the  propor- 
tion of  members  and  those  dependent  upon  them  to  population  cannot  be 
given,  it  certainly  may  be  reckoned  by  millions  and  is  constantly 
increasing.  An  additionally  satisfactory  consideration  is  the  fact  that 
this  increase  is  chiefly  among  the  great  and  well  managed  societies,  and 
that  the  small  and  unsound  ones  appear  to  be  gradually  disappearing. 

The  wiser  use  of  charitable  funds,  the  provision  of  institutions  with- 
out end  to  meet  the  varied  necessities  of  the  poor  in  sickness  and  in 
want,  the  growth  of  kinder  feeling  between  class  and  class  ;  these  and 
many  other  things  which  have  for  their  object  to  render  the  life  of  the 
working  classes  better  and  more  wholesome,  owe  much  indirectly  to 
the  law  which  has  laid  down  the  right  principles  upon  which  pauper- 
ism should  be  dealt  with. 

When  we  look  back  through  the  half  century  since  the  present  Poor 
Law  was  enacted  we  have  reason  to  be  grateful  to  it  for  the  remedy  of  terri- 
ble evils,  the  removal  of  many  dangers,  and  the  active  benefits  it  has 
conferred.  Having  regard  to  the  dark  past  and  the  comparatively 
happypresentjOur  prayer  should  be  that  no  temptation  may  induce  those 
who  will  administer  it  in  the  future  to  abandon  the  sound  line  of  action 
which  has  brought  us  to  the  calm  of  to-day  out  of  the  wild  storm  in 
which  the  Poor  Law  Amendment  Act  was  launched  sixty  years  ago. 


384         IN  I'KRNAriONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 


SCHOOL    SAVINGS    BANKS. 

BY   CHARLES   HENRY   WYATT,   CLERK.   OF   THE   MANCHESTER   SCHOOL 

BOARD. 

In  response  to  the  request  conveyed  to  me  by  Mr,  C.  S.  Loch,  Secretary 
of  the  Charity  Organization  Society,  I  have  pleasure  in  laying  before 
the  Congress  the  following  particulars  relative  to  the  'School  Savings 
Bank  movement  and  its  development  and  extension  by  the  School 
Boards,  and  the  managers  of  public  elementary  schools. 

The  object  of  the  banks  which  are  carried  on  in  England,  Wales, 
and  Scotland,  may  be  said  to  be  two -fold: 

First.  By  the  practical  method  of  instruction  to  inculcate  habits  of 
thrift  and  the  husbanding  of  resources; 

Second.  To  enable  children  and  their  parents  to  save  small  sums  of 
money  which  are  not  received  by  the  Post  Office  Savings  Banks  carried 
on  by  the  Government. 

These  school  savings  banks  are  valuable  auxiliaries  for  supplying  de- 
positors to  the  Post  Office  Banks  and  must  be  of  extreme  value  in  bring- 
ing into  the  homes  of  the  people,  particularly  those  of  the  lower  classes, 
a  fuller  and  more  intelligent  acquaintance  with  the  various  facilities 
which  are  now  offered  by  the  Government  for  the  safe  deposit  of  money 
in  connection  with  the  savings  banks,  which  have  developed  into  such 
a  gigantic  business  in  the  United  Kingdom  during  the  reign  of  our 
present  Gracious  Sovereign. 

Englishmen  lay  claim  to  a  great  many  virtues,  some  of  which  they 
do  not  possess;  but  the  most  devoted  Anglo-Saxon  would  scarcely  say 
that  thrift  is  one  of  them.  We  know  that  the  working  classes  of  this 
country  are  probably  as  well  off  as  those  of  any  other  part  of  the  world, 
and  yet  the  less  reputable  parts  of  the  great  cities  and  towns  of  the  United 
Kingdom  will  match  for  squalor,  depravity,  and  poverty,  with  centres 
of  population  in  other  countries  which  lay  no  claim  to  such  advances 
of  civilization  as  mark  Great  Britain.  It  has  been  very  wisely  said  that, 
like  many  other  good  habits,  the  husbanding  of  our  resources  is  an  art 
which  may  be  acquired,  and  if  the  wasteful  improvidence  of  the  work- 
ing classes  is  to  be  combated,  it  must  be  very  largely  by  the  tuition  of 


CHARllY    ORGANIZATION.  385 

the  children  in  attendance  at  our  public  elementary  schools  in  the  proper 
use  of  money  and  the  economical  expenditure  of  earnings.  Such  teach- 
ing will  also  have  a  very  valuable  effect  in  the  furtherance  of  the  tem- 
yjerance  movement  and  of  all  that  tends  to  the  lessening  of  the  evil  aris- 
ing through  the  drinking  habits  of  a  large  portion  of  the  working  class 
community  of  large  cities. 

I  will  now  proceed  to  explain  as  briefly  as  possible  the  mode  in  which 
school  banks  are  carried  on  in  English  public  elementary  schools,  tak- 
ing for  example  the  case  of  the  City  of  Manchester  with  which  I  am 
most  intimately  connected,  and  where  the  system  has  achieved  the 
highest  success. 

We  have  130  of  these  school  banks  in  Manchester  under  the  control 
of  the  School  Board.  They  are  open  each  Monday  morning  for  the 
receipt  and  withdrawal  of  money.  The  work  is  entirely  a  labor  of 
love  on  the  part  of  the  teachers,  who  do  all  the  necessary  bookkeeping; 
it  is  of  course  made  as  light  as  possible.  To  ensure  accuracy  the 
Board  have  the  books  audited  twice  a  year.  I  should  like  to  say  in 
passing  that  in  dealing  with  the  savings  of  the  working  classes  every 
care  should  be  taken  to  give  confidence  to  the  minds  of  those  whom  it 
is  wished  to  attract  as  depositors.  Every  thing  connected  with  the 
banks  must  be  like  Caesar's  wife,  "above  suspicion."  Monday  morning 
is  found  to  be  the  best  time  for  holding  the  banks.  This,  however,  does 
not  hold  so  strongly  now  as  when  the  banks  were  established,  one  rea- 
son for  the  choice  of  the  day  having  been  that  the  savings  could  be 
brought  in  with  the  school  fees;  but  the  general  adoption  of  free  edu- 
cation in  England  limits  the  argument  at  the  present  day.  The  money 
is  collected  each  week  from  the  schools  and  deposited  at  the  bank  of  the 
School  Board.  We  have  not  found  it  practicable  to  allow  interest  in 
our  school  banks  in  Manchester,  but  when  a  depositor  has  saved  twenty 
shillings  he  is  encouraged  to  have  the  amount  transferred  to  the  Post 
Office  Savings  Bank  where  he  is  allowed  interest  at  the  rate  of  2^  per 
cent,  per  annum.  It  is  always  well  to  encourage  these  transfers,  but  it 
cannot  always  be  managed,  as  many  of  the  parents  i)refer  that  the 
deposits  should  remain  in  the  school  banks  thinking  that  the  money  can 
be  more  easily  got  at   in  case  of  emergency.     The  books  required  are: 

1 .  Depositor's  Pass  Books, 

2.  Cash  Book, 

3.  Ledger. 

25 


386        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARTITES    AND    CORRECTION. 

The  ofificials  who  conduct  the  business  of  the  bank  are: 

1.  Cashier, 

2.  Secretary,  or  Bookkeeper. 

The  banks  should  be  open  only  on  the  day  and  at  the  hour  appointed 
in  the  rules  (see  Rules,  p.  389),  and  no  business  can  be  transacted  with 
depositors  at  any  other  time.     Each  depositor  on  opening  an   account 
receives  a  pass  book  showing  his  number  in  the  ledger,  his  initials,  and 
the  amount  of  his  deposit.     The  full   name  of  the  depositor  appears  at 
the  head  of  his   ledger  account.     The  initials  only  are  inserted   in  the 
pass  book  so  that   in  case  the  pass  book  is  lost,  any  fraudulent  attempt 
on  the  part  of  the  finder  to  withdraw  the  money  may  be  rendered  more 
difficult.     The  name  of  the  bank,  and  the  place  and  time  when  it  is  held, 
are  printed  on    the  cover  of  the  pass  book   together  with   the  names  of 
the  officials   of  the   bank.     An   abstract   of  the   rules  of  the  bank   are 
printed   on   the   back  of  the   pass  book.     The   pass  book   is  produced 
every  time  business  is  transacted  with  a  depositor.     The  cashier  receives 
and  pays  all  moneys,  and  enters  each  transaction  in  the  cash  book  giving 
the  depositor's  number,  his  initials,  and  the  amount  either  deposited  or 
withdrawn.     The  cashier  also  enters   the   date  and   the  amount   in  the 
depositor's  pass  book,  which  is  then  passed  over  to  the  bookkeeper,  who 
finds  the  account  in  the  ledger,  and  enters  the  date  and  amount,  copying 
these  particulars  direct  from  the  pass  book,  after  which  the  pass  book  is 
returned  to  the  depositor.     All  entries  in  the  pass  books  and  ledger  are 
initialed  by  the   person   making   the   same.     At  the  close  of  business 
the  cash  is  at  once  counted,  and  the  cash  book  added  up  in  order  to  see 
that  they  correspond.      The  cash  is  then  forwarded   to  the  offices  of  the 
Board  with  an  advice  note,  signed  by  both  the  cashier  and  bookkeeper, 
authenticating   the   day's   transactions,  in  order  that    the  officer  of  the 
Board  who  has  the  oversight  of  the  school  banks  may  lodge  the  amount 
in  the  general  account  at  the  bank.      As  pass  books  are  repeatedly  lost 
by  the  depositors,  it  is  customary  to  charge  a  small  sum  (one  penny) 
for  supplying  a  new  book,  the   balance  to  the  credit  of  the   account 
being  duly  entered  in  the  new  pass  book,  and  a  note  made  in  the  ledger 
that   a  new  book   has  been   issued,  so  as   to  prevent  fraud.      When  any 
depositor  has  £^\  in  the  school  bank  he  may  have  an  account  opened  in 
his  own  name  at  the  Post  Office  Savings  Bank  and   he  will  then  receive 
interest  on   the   same.     Before   making  such  transfer   the   bookkeeper 
enquires  whether  the  depositor  has  a  pass  book  with    the  Savings  Bank; 
if  he   has,  he    is   requested   to   bring    it;   if  not,  one  of  the  forms   pre- 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  387 

scribed  by  the  Savings  Bank  in  the  case  of  new  depositors  is  filled  up, 
in  order  that  a  pass  book  may  be  procured.  All  transfers  are  effected 
through  the  office  of  the  School  Board.  When  a  transfer  is  made  care 
is  taken  to  write  off  the  amount  in  the  school  bank  pass  book,  and  also 
in  the  ledger  account  of  the  depositor.  Transfers  are  entered  in  the 
cash  book  after  the  re-payment.  The  books  are  balanced  on  the  20th 
November  in  each  year.  Each  ledger  account  is  added  up,  and  after 
the  balances  due  to  the  depositors  have  been  checked,  a  list  is  made 
and  a  total  arrived  at.  This  list  is  copied  in  the  cash  book  and  follows 
the  last  week  in  the  year.  The  correctness  of  this  list  is  found  by  com- 
paring it  with  the  cash  book.  Should  there  be  any  discrepancy  between 
the  total  of  the  balances  due  to  the  depositors  taken  from  the  ledger, 
and  the  annual  statement  made  up  from  the  cash  book,  a  rigid  exami- 
nation is  always  made  until  the  cause  of  difference  is  discovered.  The 
teachers  are  advised  to  try  the  accuracy  of  their  books  (say  every  three 
months)  by  a  trial  balance.  This  is  easily  done  by  adding  up  the 
various  accounts  in  pencil  in  the  ledger,  and  comparing  the  total  with 
the  cash  book  summary,  which  should  be  regularly  posted  up  week  by 
week.  According  to  the  rules,  a  week's  notice  is  required  for  the  with- 
drawal of  money;  but  we  do  not  insist  upon  the  rigid  construction  of 
the  rule,  the  teachers  re-paying  any  money  that  may  be  required  from 
the  money  in  hand,  so  long  as  they  are  able. 

We  began  this  work  of  school  banks  in  Manchester  in  the  year 
1877.  We  had  then  3  banks  and  the  total  amount  deposited  during  the 
year  was  y^93  5.^-  3'/-,  the  number  of  depositors,  being  921,  and  the 
number  of  transactions  5,157. 

In  order  to  show  the  way  in  which  the  work  has  grown,  1  will  quote 
the  figures  for  the  last  year  (1892),  when  we  had  133  banks,  and  the 
amount  deposited  was  ^^16,415.  The  number  of  depositors  was  21,257 
and  the  number  of  transactions  584,453.  Since  the  establishment  of 
the  banks  we  ha\-e  received  altogether  ^112,740  6s.  -jt/.  In  order  to 
show  the  very  small  risk  connected  with  the  carrying  on  of  the  work,  I 
may  state  that  a  y^5  note  would  cover  the  whole  of  the  money  which 
has  been  lost,  mislaid  or  stolen.  With  regard  to  the  safe  care  of  the 
money  in  the  banks,  the  Board  have  all  deposits  collected  from  the  schools 
weekly  and  paid  to  an  account  which  is  open  in  the  name  of  their  treas- 
urer at  their  own  bank.  We  know  pretty  well  the  amount  of  money 
likely  to  be  required,  and  also  the  amount  beyond  which  the  withdrawals 
are  not  likely  to  pass.      I  may  say  that  .such  a  thing  as  a  panic  in  con- 


388        INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS    OF    CHARITIES    AND    CORRECTION. 

nection  with  our  school  savings  banks  is  unknown.  Our  principal  with- 
drawals are  at  the  great  Lancashire  holiday  of  Whitsuntide,  and  again 
at  Christmas.  There  is  no  doubt  that  many  thousands  of  children  in 
the  City  of  Manchester  are  provided  with  new  clothes  and  new  shoes 
at  these  annual  festivals  through  the  aid  of  the  banks. 

We  calculate  the  amount  of  money  required  to  be  kept  at  our  bankers  for 
the  purpose  of  working  the  banks,  and  the  balance  is  invested  in  govern- 
ment securities,  /.  e.  consols.  The  interest  upon  these  consols  and  upon 
the  money  lying  with  the  Board's  bankers  is  carried  to  a  reserve  fund  to 
meet  any  necessity  that  might  arise,  and  at  the  present  time  this  reserve 
fund  amounts  to  ^1,043  \z^s. 

In  order  to  develop  the  work  of  the  banks  as  far  as  possible  we  adver- 
tise them  by  means  of  handbills,  and  we  have  also  found  it  a  capital 
plan  to  issue  picture  cards  to  the  children.  The  first  time  these  cards 
were  issued  some  25,000  were  distributed.  The  business  of  the  banks 
the  following  week  was  nearly  double  what  it  had  been  before  the  issue 
of  the  cards,  and  the  business  has  since  continued  to  increase. 

Such  briefly  is  the  mode  in  which  this  work  has  been  carried  on  suc- 
cessfully for  many  years  past  in  the  city  of  Manchester,  and  it  is  the 
conviction  of  all  who  have  had  to  do  with  the  work  that  a  very  large 
amount  of  good  has  been  done,  not  only  in  giving  lessons  of  restraint, 
but  in  arming  the  children  with  weapons  of  defence  against  the  innum- 
erable tendencies  which  may  work  to  affect  their  misery  and  ruin  in 
after  life.  But  the  banks  are  also  very  valuable  to  the  schools  themselves. 
Though  we  have  compulsory  attendance  at  school  in  Great  Britain,  it 
does  not  follow  that  every  child  attends  perfectly,  and  it  is  found  that 
these  school  banks  contribute  very  much  to  regularity  of  attendance 
and  to  a  large  extent  stop  the  capricious  migration  of  children  from 
school  to  school.  An  account  in  a  school  bank  is  a  wonderfully  good 
anchor. 

I  believe  that  such  banks,  wherever  established,  if  carried  on  with  sys- 
tem and  properly  supervised,  are  likely  to  be  among  the  greatest  bene- 
fits that  school  managers  can  confer  upon  the  rising  generation. 

[  esteem  it  a  high  honor  to  have  been  invited  to  send  a  paper  to  the 
Congress  upon  this  subject.  I  hope  the  day  will  soon  come  when  there 
will  be  facilities  in  all  civilised  countries  for  children  to  have  bank  accounts 
at  their  schools  and  so  learn  to  save  their  small  .sums  of  money 

"  Not  for  to  hide  it  in  a  hedge, 
Nor  for  a  train  attendant. 
But  for  the  glorious  privilege 
Of  being  independent." 


CHARITY    ORGANIZATION.  389 


SCHOOL    BANK     RULES. 

1.  The  bank  is  held  in  the  school  premises  every  Monday  at  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning. 

2.  Any  sums  from  one  penny  upwards  will  be  received. 

3.  No  money  will  be  received  or  paid  out  without  the  production  ot  the  pass 
book.  The  depositor  is  requested  to  see  that  the  sums  deposited  are  correctly 
entered  in  this  book. 

4.  If  the  depositor  loses  the  pass  book,  a  week's  notice  must  be  given,  and  a 
new  pass  book  will  be  supplied  for  one  penny,  in  which  the  balance  of  the  account 
will  be  shown. 

5.  As  soon  as  any  depositor  has  deposited  ^i,  an  account  will  be  opened  in  his 
or  her  name  in  the  Post  Office  Savings  Bank,  and  interest  will  be  allowed.  The 
school  bank  will  continue  to  receive  future  deposits  from  such  depositor,  but  does 
not  allow  interest. 

6.  In  the  event  of  the  death  of  a  depositor,  such  money  as  may  stand  to  the 
credit  of  the  deceased  in  the  hands  of  the  trustees  of  the  school  bank,  will  be 
paid  to  the  parents,  guardians,  or  other  representatives.  The  trustees  will  pay 
the  same  to  the  person  whom  they  believe  to  be  the  legal  representative  of 
the  deceased  child,  but  will  not  be  responsible  if  the  money  is  paid  to  the  wrong- 
applicant  in  error. 

7.  The  index  number  and  initials  of  the  depositor  are  written  on  the  pass  book. 

8.  Twice  every  year  the  books  of  the  school  bank  will  be  audited,  and  four  times  in 
each  year,  viz.,  on  the  second  Monday  in  February,  May,  August,  and  November, 
every  depositor  will  be  required  to  leave  his  or  her  pass  book  at  the  school  for  com- 
parison with  the  ledger.  The  pass  books  will  be  returned  to  the  depositors  on 
the  following  Mondav. 


INDEX 


Aberdeen,  Scotland,  helping  the  poor  in,  344-349. 

Alford,  B.  H.,  250,  253-2^7- 

Almsgiving,  indiscriminate,  x,  xvii,  44,  49;  see  Begging. 

Almshouses,  34,  59,  62,  75,  84;  see  Workhouse. 

Ames,  Miss,  35. 

Apprentices,  homes  for.  Dresden.  241. 

Austria,  charity  in,  21S. 

Ayres,  P.  W.,  15,  30,  35 

Baltimore,  charities  of,  92,  129. 

Barbour,  Levi  L.,  v,  vii,  4,  34. 

Begging,  suppression   of,  49;  in  France,  156;  in  Italy,  169,  183;   in  Germany,  213, 

219;   in  Russia,  244;   in  Great  Britain,   254,  285,  349;  see  Almsgiving. 
Belgium,  charity  in    135,  162-167. 
Bemis,  E.  \V.,  12. 
Benevolent  trading,  356. 
Berlin,  organization  of  charity  in,  217. 
Birtwell,  Miss  Mary,  19. 

Bland-Garland,  Mr.,  as  administrator  of  poor  law,  301,  302,  351. 
Buhmert,  Victor,  xiv,  210-243,  215. 
Bolles,  Commissioner,  quoted,  131. 
Bonaparte,  Charles  J.,  v,  vi. 
Booth,  Charles,  xxvi,  253,  263. 
Booth,  William,  quoted,  85. 

Boston,  charities  of,  xii,  17,  19,  28,  44,  47,  49,  53,  91,  99,  108. 
Brabazon  experiment,  293. 
Brackett.  Jeffrey  K.,  15,  17,  22. 
Bradby,  E.  II.,  251,  258-267. 

Bradfield,  England,  charity  in,  350-364;  see  Tables. 
Brinkerhoff,  Roeliff,  32. 
Bristol,  charities  of,  312-318. 
Brooklyn,  charities  of,  44,  48,  90,  125,  127. 
Brooks,  John  Graham,  v,  vii,  xv. 

Phillips,  tribute  to,  56. 

Buffalo,  Charities  of,  10,  14,  44,  47,  48,  51,  93. 

Bureaux  de  Bienfaisaiice ,  154,  156,  179. 

Burial  clubs,  306. 

Burlington,  Iowa,  charities  of,  26,  48. 

Bury,  Mr.,  as  administrator  of  poor  law,  302. 

Buzelle,  George  B.,  tribute  to,  56. 


392 


INDEX. 


Cedar  Hill  farm  labor  colony,  TJ-JC). 

Central  Bureau  of   Poor  Relief  and  Charity,  Dresden,  220. 

Charities  aid  associations;  see  State  charities,  etc. 

building  in  Boston,  44,  47;    in  New  York,  47. 

<"harity  organization,  general    principles  of,  viii,   xvii,    xxiii-xxxii;   in    Italy,    182; 
in  Russia,  244-247. 

— : —  section  of   Congress  of  Charities,  etc.,  committee  of  arrange- 
ments, ii,  v-vii. 

societies,  in  America,  43-57,87-119;  history  of,  43-55;  lapsed 


societies,  45;  relief  given  or  withheld  by,  45,  46,  53;  finances  of,  47; 
organization  and  work  of,  ix,  48-55;  friendly  visitors  of,  see  friendly  visit- 
ing; registration  by,  50,  99-107;  agents  of,  it 2;  co-operation  of  with  public 
relief,  50,  114-119;  educational  work  of,  ix,  1S6;  Great  Britain,  249-36S, 
372-374;  West  London,  253-257;  East  London,  258-267,  299;  Shoreditch, 
268-277;  St.  01ave's,'278--282;  Islington,  283-289;  St.  George  in  the  East, 
299-303;  Manchester,  251,  307;  Bristol,  316-318;  Rochdale,  328,  338-343; 
Aberdeen,  345;  co-operation  of,  with  poor  law,  255,  270,  2S5,  290-303,  317, 
329;  difficulties  encounteied,  263,  288,  316;  repressive  work  of,  254,  285, 
332.  339;  organizing  work  of,  254,  273,  288,  317,  330,  34S,  365-368;  relief 
granted  by,  2S6,  297,   339,  340,  373;  educational   work  of,    287;  objects  of, 

^90,  329,  367- 

Charity,  the  problem  of,  xix-xxxii. 

Chicago  Relief  and  Aid  Society,  53,  89. 

Children,  homes  for,  63,  67,  72,  I2i,  127,  325;  poor  law  schools  for,  306,  325; 
placing  out,  11,  325;  boarding  out,  326. 

Church  charity  in  England,  273,  280,  287;  France,  136-141,  160;  Italy,  169; 
Russia,  244. 

Churches,  charities  of,  5,  7,  8,  11,  18,  29,  125,  367. 

Cincinnati  Associated  Charities,  48,  93. 

Clark,  A.  W.,  n. 

Colston  societies  of  Bristol,  313,  314,  318. 

Committees  of  State  Charities  Aid  Association,  duties  of,  59. 

Compulsory  relief,  117,  150,  162,  166,  187,  214;  from  children,  310. 

Confre7-es,  139,  140. 

Congregazione  di  Carita,  182,  218. 

Congress  of  Charities,  Correction,  and  I'hilanthropy,  vi,  xix;  officers,  ii;  section 
on  organization  of  charities,  committee  of  arrangements,  ii,  v,  vi. 

Convalescent  home  at  the  sea  side,  308. 

Co-operation,  ix,  xvii;  between  voluntary  and  officiarbodies,  14,  33,  68,  114-119, 
210-227,  290-303;  see  Public  and  private  charity.  Charity  organization  socie- 
ties, (_>rganization  of  charities.  State  charities  aid  associations. 

industrial,  at  Rochdale,  319,  321. 

Country  week  for  children,  274,  279,  328. 

County  visiting  committee  of  State  Charities  Aid  Association,  60. 

Craig,  Oscar,  32. 

Crozier,  A.  O.,  12. 

Dawes,  Miss  Anna  L.,  v. 
Decentralization  of  poor  relief,  200,  221. 
DeForest,  Robert  W.,  v,  vi,  3,  4,  8,  22,  31. 


INDEX.  393 

Depots  dc'  mendicite  in  France,  156. 

Deserted  wives,  305. 

Directories  of  charities,  106,  161. 

Dispensaries,  private,  with  public  support,  129,  156,  162;  provident,  302.  308. 

District  Provident  Society  of  Mancliester,  307-309. 

Dooly,  John.  77. 

Dresden,  organization  of  charity  in.  219-225;    People's  Club  of,  228-243. 

lOrexel,  Joseph  W.,  supporter  of  Cedar  Hill  labor  colony,  77. 

Dugdale,  K.  L.,  quoted,  85. 

Dupuy,  E.  J.,  37. 

East  London,  charity  organization  in.  258-267. 

Educational  work,  sec  Charit}^  organization  societies;   of   People's  Club,  Dresden, 

238. 
Klberfeld  system  of  public  charity,  xxi.\,  5,  113,  185,  187-209;  in  Elberfeld,  191, 

225;  in    Hamburg,  196;  in   Freiburg,  203;  in   Crefeld,   207,   225;   overseers, 

191,    197,   202,    209;   district   board,  191,  197,   202;   central  board,  192,  201; 

business  department,  194,  198;   unpaid  service,  193;  temporary  grants,  194, 

205;  application  in  large  cities,  195;  circuits,  197;  conditions  of  relief.  201; 

paid  agents  and   inspectors,  204,  207,  208;   its  shortcomings,  113,  203.  207; 

adaptation  to  American  towns,  xxi.x. 
Electric  sewing  machine  rooms  of   Baltimore,  92. 
Emergencies,  53,  223. 
Employment  bureaus,  241. 

Endowments,  charitable,  136,  143,  165,  169,  182,  275,  279,  2S3,  312,  327. 
Epileptics,  care  of,  67,  70,  292. 
Evening  entertainments  of   People's  Club,  Dresden,  229-233. 

F'arming  out  the  poor,  abolished  in  New  York,  63. 

Feeble  minded,  care  of  the,  292,  294. 

First  aid  to  the  injured,  64. 

Fitch  Creche,  Buffalo,  47. 

Fleming,  Baldwyn,  377-3S3. 

Foundling  hospitals,  150. 

France,  charity  in,  5,  37,  135-162;  history.  135-148;  ])ublic  assistance,  149-157; 
private  charity,  157-162. 

Friendly  societies,  280,  320,  355,  363,  382. 

visiting,  discussion  of,  15-31;  papers  on,  15,  10S-113,  369-376;  in  .Aber- 
deen, 346;  Boston,  xii,  17,  ig,  28;  Burlington,  Iowa,  26;  Galveston,  23,  31; 
London,  16,  286,  369;  Manchester,  302;  Minneapolis,  26;  New  York,  22,  24, 
67;  Philadelphia,  27;  by  districts  or  by  families?  xxi.x,  25,  113,  191,  197, 
202,  346,  370. 

visitors,  conferences  of,   112,  191,  371;  education  of,   19,  28,  346,  371; 

enlistment  and  introduction  of,  29,  108,  370,  374;  suggestions  for,  xxxi, 
15-31,  109-112,  373-376;  as  almoners,  27,  373,  374;  as  collectors  of  sav- 
ings. 374;  in  tenement  houses,  28;  in  cases  of  intemperance,  iii,  276;  from 
churches,  29;  from  colleges,  29;  of  Association  for  Improving  the  Condi- 
tion of  the  Poor,  24,  346;  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  30;  of  the  Women's 
University  Settlement,  369-376;  see  Elberfield  system,  overseers,  etc. 


394  INDEX. 

(ieorgievsky,  H.,  xvi,  244-247. 

Germany,  charity  in,  xxix.  1S7-243,  200;  see  Elberfeld  system. 

Oilman,  Daniel  C,  v,  vi,  viii,  xviii,  3. 

<iirls''  Home  of   People's  Club,  Dresden,  241. 

(.iiadden,  Washington,  7. 

<ilenn,  John  M.,  v,  vii,  33. 

Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  poor  relief  in,  12.  , 

Green,  David  I.,  vii. 

Grey's  hospital,  London,  278. 

Harrison,  C.  C,  v,  vi. 

Hartford,  charities  of,  vii,  48,  95. 

Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  v,  vi. 

Hayes,  Mrs.  R.  H.,  23,  31. 

Heape,  J.  R.,  329,  338-343. 

Henderson,  Charles  R.,  7. 

Hill,  Miss   Octavia,   68;    her  plans  for   collecting   rent,  287;    for  friendly  visiting, 

369,  370. 

History  of  charity,  in  Belgium,  162-167;   in  France,  13^-148;   of  charity  organiza- 
tion in  the  United  States,  43-57. 

Hodge,  H.  Lenox,  tribute  to,  55. 

Holt,  George  D.,  26. 

Home  libraries,  111. 

of   Industry  of   Brooklyn  City  Mission,  91. 

Hopitaitx  and  hospices  in  France,   150. 

Hopkins,  Mrs.  M.  A.,  19. 

Hospital  Book  and  Newspaper  Society  of  New  York,  63. 

Hospitals,   in  England,  278,  326;   in  France,  138,  150-154;   reformation  of,  59,  75. 

IIotels-Dieii,  139,  142. 

House  of  the  Good  Shepherd.  Chicago,  128. 

Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Poor,  Association  for,    Aberdeen,  Scotland,   345- 

349;  New  York,  24,  38. 
Indianapolis,  charities  of,  48,  56,  94. 
Individual  treatment  necessary,  108,  190,  275,  366. 
Industrial  School  for  Girls,  Chicago,  128. 
Inebriates,  institutions  for,  11 1. 
Infirmary,  Poor  Law,  of  Manchester,  306. 
Insane,  state  care  for,  65. 

Instruction,  college,  in  charities  and  correction,  55. 
Intemperance,   visiting  cases  of,    iii,   276;   a  cause  of  poverty,  80,   349;    Society 

against,  Dresden,   229,  233. 
International  treatment  of  charity  questions.  185-186. 
Investigation,  x,  xvii,  50,  194,  255;  of  hospital  applicants,  308;   success  of,  at  Pad- 

dington,  302. 
Islington,  charity  organization  in,  283-289. 
Italy,  charity  in,  5,  168-184;  see  Tables. 

Jails  in  the  United  States,  84. 

Jenks,  Prof.  J.  \V.,  v. 

Jews,  in  Whitechapel,  259,  266. 


INDEX.  395 

Johnson,  Alexander,  xiii,  33,  114-119. 

Jones,  J.  Lloyd,  v. 

Juvenile  leformatories  of  Maryland,  128,  129. 

Kellogg,  Charles  D.,  xi,  43-57. 

Labor  question  distinguished  from  pauper  question,  210. 

in  almshouses,  34. 

colonies,  33,  35,  77-S6. 

homes,  38,  91. 

■ tests,  38,  87-98,  37S,  380. 

Laicisation  of  charities,  5,  152,  157. 

Lambert,  Brooke,  365-36S. 

Lamer,  C.  P.,  278-282. 

Laundries,  88-9S;  in  France,  37;  training  schools,  Brooklyn,  90,   Newark,  93. 

Lazar  houses  in  France,  13S. 

Leach,  R.  A.,  252,  319-337. 

Lewis,  Charlton  T.,  74. 

Licenses  for  disguised  begging,  49. 

Liquor  traffic,  26. 

Literature  of  English  charities,  250. 

Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor,  120. 

Liverpool,  joint  collections  for  charities  in,  xxvii. 

Loch,  C.  .S.,  vii,  xvi,  250-252. 

Lodging  houses,  36,  37,  49,  55,  65,  87-98;  in  London,  260. 

London,  charity  in,  16,  249-303,  369;  see  Charity  organization  societies. 

Low,  Seth,  quoted,  127. 

Lowell,  Mrs.  ('harles  R.,  v,  vi,  xii.  33,  77-86,  122. 

McCulloch,  (Jscar  C,  tribute  to,  55. 

McDougall,  Alexander,  251,  304-311. 

Mackay,  T.,  xvi,  251,  290-303. 

Maisoii  liospitalikre,  37. 

Manchester,  poor  law  relief  and   charity  organization  in,  304-311;  school  savings 

banks,  385. 
Mansion  House  relief  fund,  298. 

Marshall,  Alfred,  ideas  of.  concerning  cooperation  with  poor  law,  29^).  300. 
Mayo-Smith,  Richmond,  v,  vi,  3. 
Medical  relief,  sec  Relief,  medical. 
Mendicancy,  see  Begging. 

Metropolitan  Association  for  Befriending  Young  Servants,  London,  373. 
Milne,  George,  252,  344-349- 
Miramion,  Madame  de,  141. 
Mittweida,  charity  organization  in,  215. 
Moderation  of  the  poor  in  seeking  i^rivate  relief,  296. 
Morse.  Miss  Frances  R.,  xii,  99-107. 
Mumford.  Mrs.  Mary  F.,  v. 

Municipal  lodging-houses,  37,  55,  65,  91,  93,  97;  see  Lodging-houses. 
Miinslerberg,  Theodore,  xiv,  187-199. 
Mutual  benefit  societies,  i6v,  167;  see  Friendly  societies. 


396 


INDEX. 


Necrology,  55. 

Newark,  charities  of,   49,  93. 

New  Haven,  charities  of,  44,  51,  94. 

New  Jersey,  State  Charities  Aid  Association,  72-76. 

New  York  City,  charities  of,  22,  24,  38,  47,  54,  57-71,  88,  99,  121,  122,  127 

State  Charities  Aid  Association,  ^7-71. 

Nicholls.  Sir  George,  as  a  reformer  of  the  poor  law,  303. 

Nicholson,  C.  N.,   268-277. 

Nurses,  for  the  insane,  64;  for  the  poor,  355,  356;  schools  for.  62. 

Old  age  pauperism,    161,  379. 

Omaha,  charities  of,    11,  48,  93. 

Organization  of  charity,  viii,  .xviii;  sc:l'  Charity  organization  societies,  Elberfeld 
system,  etc.;  in  Austria,  218;  in  P'rance,  161;  in  Germany,  215,  219;  in 
Great  Britain,  250-252;  in  Italy,  1S2;  in  Russia,  244;  its  necessity,  x,  xxvii, 
186,  211,  273. 

Outdoor  relief,  private,  25,  246,  256,  279,  296,  313;  see  Charity  organization  socie- 
ties, etc. 
public,    10,    12,  14,  44,  48,  116,  154.  168,  179,    201,   378-381;    in   London,   255, 
269;  its  abolition  desirable,  296,  301,  379-380;    see  also,  Elberfeld  System, 
poor  law,  etc. 
wages  lowered  by,   271.  294,  315. 

Faine,  Robert  Treat,  v,  vi,  17,  30. 

Panorama  of  charitable  work  in  many  lands,  viii-xviii. 

Paton,  John,  24,  38. 

Paulinengarten,  Dresden,  236. 

Pauperism,  decrease  of,  in  Bradfield,  361;   in  liristol,  315;   in  Manchester,  30^;  its 

causes  and  cure,  So,  226,  293,  295;  statistics  of,  see  Statistics. 
I'eabody,  Francis  G.,  v,  vi,  xi,  xix-xxxii. 
Pellew,  K.  E.,  quoted,  100. 

Pensions,  by  private  charity,  256,  279,  280,  309,  339;  old  age,  i6t,  379;    U.  S.,  14. 
People's   Club,    Dresden,    228-243;    club   houses,   233;    entertainments,    229-233; 

gardens,  237;    home  for  apprentices,  241;    home  for  girls,  241;    journal,  the 

"  Volksivohl^''''  240;  lectures  and  class  instruction,  238;  library,  239;   women's 

meetings,  240. 

Home,  Dresden,  233-238. 

— ^ Palace,  London,  228. 

Philadelphia,  charities  of,  9,  27,  44,  46,  50,  89,  129. 

I'laygrounds,  Dresden,  237. 

Police  powers  in  private  hands,  9. 

Political  influence  in  public  charity,  114,  124,  126,  130,  157,  2S1,  314. 

Poor-house,  sec  Almshouse,  Workhouse. 

Poor  law.  Amendment  Act  of   1834,  294;    its  history  and  influence,  377-383. 

commissioners,  report  of,  377. 

relief  in    England,   co-operation   of.   with    private    relief,    255,    270-273, 

290-303,  317,  329;    in  a  rural  union,  350-364;    reform  of,  255,  294,  299,  301, 

305;    rules  of,  269,  305,  322-327,  378;    shortcomings  of,    272,  281,  284,  293; 

in  Scotland,  344. 
Poor  laws,  U.  S.,  116. 


INDEX.  397 

I'oor  relief  in  Austrian  Cities,.  218;   in  (lerman  ('ities.  215. 

Portland,  Oregon,  charities  of,  49,  96. 

Post  Office  savings  banks,  291,  384. 

Preston,  Vicar-General,  tribute  to,  56. 

Prideaux,  Miss  F.  C,  15,  369-376. 

Prison  reform,  74,  84. 

Private  charities  lack  responsibility,  117. 

Provident  dispensaries,  in  Manchester,  England,  308;    Provident  Medical  Society 

in  Kent,  England,  302. 
efforts  and  institutions,   52,   53,    iii.    161,  167,  2S7,  291,  302,  307,  308, 

320,  355,  363.  374,  384-3^9- 
Public  and  private  charily,  co-operation  of,  jT„  50,  57,  68,  114-119,  205,  210-227, 
in  German  cities,  215,  219-225;  their  relation,  31-33,  57-76,  185;  respective 
fields,  4-15,    121,  257,  293;    in  Belgium,   162-167;    England.   269;    France, 
135-162;   Germany,  187-227;   Italy,  168-184;  see  Poor  law  relief. 

control  of  private  charity,  132,  14S,  159,  182,  213;  in  Austria,  218;  Ger- 
many, 214,  223;   Russia,  244. 

subsidies  to  private  charities,  xiii,  120-132;    in  the   District  of  Columbia, 

120,  124,  129;   Pennsylvania,  123;   Illinois,  128;   New  York  City,  121. 

Quinze-Vingts,  in  Paris,  152. 

Reform  schools,  166. 

Registration  and  information,  i.x,  .\i,  xvii,  50,  99-107;  in  England,    330,  339;   Ger- 
many, 216,  220,  224;    Russia,  226. 
Reitzenstein,  F.  P'rhrn.  von,  xiv,  1S5-186.  ' 
Relief,  see  Almsgiving,  Outdoor  relief.  Poor  law  relief,  Poor  relief. 

by  work,  x,  33,  49,  77,  87-98,  324,  339. 

medical,   129,  156,  162,  166,  iSi,  278;    in  England,  302,  306,  307,  308,  326, 

328,  355,  362;  see  Hospitals. 

special,  298. 

Rescue  work,  11,  36,  37,  38,  91,  307. 

Rice,  Mrs.  W.  B.,  v. 

Richmond,  Miss  Mary  E.,  13,  33. 

Rochdale,  England,  poor  relief  in,  319-343;  administration  of  poor  law,  322-327; 
co-operation  between  the  poor  law  and  charities,  329-331;  industrial  and 
general  characteristics,  319-322;  private  charities, "327-329;  see  Tables. 

Rogers,  Miss  A.  P.,  36. 

Roman  largesses,  168. 

Rosenau,  N.  S.,  v,  7. 

Rossi,  Egisto,  xiii,  168-184. 

Russia,  charity  in,  244—247. 

Saint  \'incent  de  Paul,  30,  141. 

Salvation  army,  work  of  the,  38,  78,  85. 

.Sanitary  inspection,  205. 

.Savings  banks;  see  Provident  efforts. 

School  savings  banks,  384-389;  benefits  of,  388;  rules  of,  386,  389. 

Schuyler,  Miss  Louisa  L. ,  v,  xi,  31,  57-71. 

Scotland,  poor  relief  in,  344-349. 


39^  INDEX. 

Sectarian  institutions,  public  appropriations  to,  123,  128. 

Self-respect  developed  by  friendly  visiting,  no. 

Servants,  241,  373. 

Settlement,  laws  of,  in  Belgium,  164,   1(16;   in  Italy,   1S3;   in  Germany,  187,  214. 

Settlements,  university,  370. 

Seyffardt,  L.  F.,  xiv,  207-209. 

Sharpe,  Miss  L.,  283-289. 

Shoreditch,  London,  charity  organization  in,  26S-277. 

Sisters  of  Charity  in  France,  141,  152,  157. 

Smith,  Miss  Frances,  15,  28. 

Mayo-,  Richmond,  v,  vi,  3. 

T.  Guilford,  13. 

Miss  Zilpha  D.,  11;   quoted,  104. 

Societies  tor  general  welfare,  Germany,  229,  236. 
Society  for  Poor  Relief  and  Charity.  German,  215,  217. 

for  Prevention  of  Abuse  of   Spirituous  Drinks,  Dresden,  229,  233. 

for  Prevention  of   Pauperism,  Dresden,  xv,  219. 

for  Prevention  of   Poverty  in  Berlin,  217. 

Sociology  in  university  courses,  5^. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  7. 

Starr,  Miss  M.  E.,  26. 

State  boards  of  charities,  32. 

State  Charities  Aid  Association  of  New  Jersey,  33,  72-76;  law  creating,  73. 

of  New   York,  xi,  31,  57-71;    county  visitors,  60, 

68,  70;  law  creating,  70;    legislative  work,  61;    organization,   58-60;  publi- 
cations, 60;   results  of  work,  61-6S;   standing  committees,  59. 
Statistics  : 

appropriations  to  public  and  private  charities,   121,  122. 
Cedar  Hill  Farm,  78. 

charities    of    Aberdeen,    348;     Bradheld,    352,    362,    see  Tables;     District    of 
Columbia,  121;   Dresden,  222,  225;    France,  149,  154;    Italy,  172-182,  see 
Tables;  Manchester,   305;   New   York,    122;    Rochdale,  328,333-343,  see 
Tables;   St.  Petersburg,  246. 
friendly  societies,  320. 

pauperism,  51,  318,  324,  333-337,  360-364,  381. 
school  savings  banks,  387. 
working  class  savings,  291. 
Sterilization  of  the  unfit,  33. 
Strikes,  industrial,  321. 
Sturge,  Miss  Elizabeth,  312-318. 

Suffrage  lost  by  accepting  public  relief  in  Germany,  211. 

Supervision   of  public  charities,   unofficial,   in   co-operation    with    official   boards, 
32,  57-71.  72-76.  _ 

Tables  : 

Aberdeen  Charities,  34S. 

appropriations  for    public    compared   with    private    charities,    in    District    of 
Columbia,  121;  in  New  York  City,  122. 


INDEX.  399 

Tabl  es : — Continued. 
^iradfield  Union  : 

outdoor  and  indoor  pauperism,  1871-1S92,  361. 

poor  in  twelve  Berkshire  unions,  percentage  of,  360. 

sickness  and  old  age,  provision  against,  364. 

social  statistics  of  four  parishes,  362,  363. 

wages,  359. 
Cedar  Hill  Farpi,  78. 

deposits  of  working  class  savings  in  England,  291. 

Dresden  Municipal    Bureau  of   Information  for  Poor  Relief  and  Charity,  225. 
Italian  Charities  : 

capital  invested  in  Government  bonds,  17S. 

classification  according  to  the  principal  object  of  each,  iSSo,  172. 

expenditures  for  charities  by  the  provinces  and  towns,- 1889,  180. 

linancial  statistics,  i88o,  174. 

patrimony  and  income,  1861  and  1880,  176. 

real  estate,  value  of,  1861  and  1880,    177. 
Manchester,  outdoor  and  indoor  relief,   305. 
Rochdale  charities  and  institutions  : 

classification  of  outdoor  paupers,  January,  1872  and  1892,  334;  July,  1872 
and  1S92,  336. 

classification  of  workhouse   paupers,  January,  1872   and   1892,  333;  July, 
1872  and  1892,  335. 

diagram  of  the  work  of  the  Rochdale  Charity  Organization  Society,  342. 

investments  of  working  class,  321. 

payments  to  members  of  friendly  societies,  1892,  320. 

total  number  of  indoor  and  outdoor  paupers,  1S72  and  1S92,  337. 

Tenement-house  reform,  67. 

Thoma,  Ur.,  xiv,  200-206. 

Thrift,  see  Provident  efforts. 

Training  schools,  for  nurses,  Kellevue,  N.  Y.,  62;  see  Laundries. 

Tramps,  34,  35,  49,  51,  64,  156,  166;  sec  Labor  tests,   Laundries,   Relief  by  work, 

Woodyards. 
Trading,  benevolent,  356. 

Uncomplaining  poor,  222. 

Unemployed,  34,  79-86,  97,  265;  causes  of  lack  of  employment.  So. 

Unpaid  administration  of  poor  relief,  advantages  of,  T93. 

Vagrancy,  see  Tramps. 

Valleroux,  Herbert,  xiii,  135-167. 

Vincent  de  Paul,  Saint,  30,  141. 

Visitors,  friendly,  see  Friendly  visitors;  official,  see  Elberfeld  System,  overseers. 

Visitors  to  charitable  institutions,  32,  57-71,  72-76,  98,  183. 

Volks'wohl,  Dresden,  xvi,  228,  240. 

Wages  lowered  by  outdoor  relief,  271,  294,  315. 
Wages,  rates  of  in  Bradfield,  England,  351,  353,  359. 
Walk,  J.  W.,  8,  i[,  27. 
Warner,  Amos  G.,  v,  xiii,  5,  33,  120-132. 


400  INDEX. 

Washington.  U.  C'.,  charities  of,  93,  120,  129,  130. 
West  London  :   S.   Maiylebone.  charity  organization  in,  -53-257. 
White,  Alfred  T.,  v,  vi',  xii,  S7-9S. 
\\'hitechapel,  London,   259. 
Wilcox,  Ansley,  V,  14,  31,  39. 
\V'illianison,  Mrs.  Benjamin,  xii,  33,  72-76. 
Willink,  H.  G.,  252,  350-364. 
Wines,  Frederick  H.,  v,  vi. 
Wolcott,  Mrs.  Roger,  xii,  15,  108-113. 
Women,  see  Laundries,  Relief  by  ^Vork,  Workrooms. 
Women's  meetings  of  the  I'eople's  Club,  Dresden,  241. 
Wood,  Mrs.  Glen.  18. 

Woodyards,  36-39,  88-98;  self-sustaining,  90,  95;  see  Relief  by  work. 
Work,  x;    see  Labor,  Laundries,   Relief  by,   Woodyards,  Workhouses,  Working- 
rooms. 
Workhouses,  34,89,212;  in  England,  306,324,  326,  333,  357,  381;  in  France,  156. 
Workrooms  for  women,  36,  91,  92,  93,  94,  95. 
Wyatt,  Charles  Henry.  3'^4-389. 


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